As they bought their coffee and breakfast sandwiches around 8:40am, someone spotted a man carrying a rifle behind the beauty supply store about one building over from the convenience store. A moment later, shots rang out, and by 8:44 the calls were coming in: Shots fired, officers down!
More shots were fired, and the suspect was seen to have crossed behind the convenience store and was lurking behind the car wash next to the store. As EMS arrived around 8:48am, officers engaged the suspect and he died at the scene.
About 8:50am, the person in charge of our church's building maintenance called police headquarters to find out if the officer we usually pay to come watch our property on Sunday morning was going to be available. He was told about the shootings, and asked to please get people to start praying.
He told two of our prayer team, who came up to the prayer room where i was sitting, and we did start praying right away. The news still hadn't hit the internet news sites yet.
When the news did start to roll in, there were rumors swirling everywhere. Some debated the number killed or wounded. Some said there were two more gunmen who had gotten away and the police and sheriff's deputies were looking for them.
In the midst of a morning of searing pain, our pastor delivered this sermon, prepared several days before:
(If you don't have quite enough time to listen to the whole thing, i recommend you read the transcript on the same page, it's worth it.)
At our evening prayer service, we remembered the families of the officers killed and prayed for the wounded. One of those killed, Officer Montrell Jackson, had on his Facebook page an open invitation to anyone who needed prayer or help to come to him. We prayed that the people of our church wouldn't be afraid to reach out as our pastor and Pastor White have challenged us.
As #1 Son was driving around town earlier on that day, making food deliveries for the restaurant where he works, he heard a siren and knew a police car was coming through. He and every other car stopped to see where it was coming from and make sure they stayed out of the way. Every car but one, that is.
The one was driven by a young woman who not only did not stop, she had the audacity to pull out in front of the officer as he tried to get through an intersection, and she pulled in front of him and stopped him on purpose and flipped him off! Everyone else who saw it was slack-jawed, and then they watched in satisfaction as she continued glaring at the officer so long she didn't see the car stopped in front of her. As much as i feel sorry for the guy she rear-ended, everyone who has heard the story has marveled at how quickly she did reap what she had sown.
People in this area are rallying to support our police forces and the sheriff's deputies. We need to rally to reach across to each other throughout this whole area. We can't let it tear us apart.
What some people mean for evil we have to turn into good. It's the only way.
Today is:
Back-to-Front Yad -- Fairy Calendar
Bloomer Day -- anniversary of the opening day of the first US women's rights convention in 1848*
Festival of Honos -- Ancient Roman Calendar (personification of morality and honor)
Full Buck Moon a/k/a Full Thunder Moon or Full Hay Moon; related observances
Adhi-Esala Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka
Waso Full Moon / Dhamma Cakka Day -- Myanmar
Kokura Gion Taiko -- Yasaka Shrine, Fukuoka City, Japan (shrine festival that incorporates a taiko drumming competition with up to 100 teams; through the 21st)
Liberation Day -- Nicaragua
Martyr's Day -- Myanmar
National Daiquiri Day
Snake River Stampede -- Nampa, ID (the 100th year of one of the top 15 professional rodeo events in the nation; through Saturday)
Stick Out Your Tongue Day -- internet generated, do it just because it's fun
St. Justa's Day (Patron of potters; Seville, Spain)
Triple Play Day -- the first Major League unassisted triple play was made by Neal Ball on this day in 1909
*Amelia Bloomer's birth anniversary on May 27 is also called "Bloomer Day"
Anniversaries Today:
Frank Sinatra marries Mia Farrow, 1966
Isis marries Osiris (year unknown, ask the ancient Egyptians!)
Adonis marries Aphrodite (year unknown, ask the ancient Greeks!)
Birthdays Today:
Stephen Anthony Lawrence, 1990
Jared Padalecki, 1982
Topher Grace, 1978
Angela Griffin, 1976
Clea Lewis, 1965
Anthony Edwards, 1962
Campbell Scott, 1962
Brian May, 1947
Ilie Nastase, 1946
Vikki Carr, 1941
Arthur Rankin, Jr., 1924
George McGovern, 1922
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, 1921
Eve Merriam, 1916
Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, 1904 (last direct descendent of Abraham Lincoln)
Max Fleischer, 1883
Charles Horace Mayo, 1865
Lizzie Borden, 1860
Edgar Degas, 1834
Samuel Colt, 1814
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"That's All Right"(Elvis' first single release), 1954
Today in History
A dragon more than 100 metres long was found dead on Yehwang Mountain in Henan province and was seen as a bad omen for Emperor Huan, who ignored it and died at age 35 (three years later); Xiang Kai, who had warned him of the omen, was released from the prison the emperor had placed him in, and lionised as a hero, BCE164
Moslem forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeated the Visigoths led by their king Roderic, 711
A hailstorm brings down the ceilings of the Papal Palace, Rome, 1500
Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after having that title for just nine days, 1553
Five women are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England, 1701
Australia's first recorded use of gaslight was commenced in a Sydney shop, 1826
The British Medical Association was founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association by Sir Charles Hastings at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary, 1832
The two day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York; "bloomers," named after developer Amelia Bloomer, are worn at this very early feminist convention, 1848
A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg explodes over the town of Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona causing approximately 16,000 pieces of debris to rain down on the town, 1912
Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 metres (347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention, 1963
The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua, 1979
The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published, 1983
President Clinton announces his idea for a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in regards to gays in the US military, 1993
A Tel Aviv judges orders safe deposit boxes that contain manuscripts of Franz Kafka to be opened, 2010
A Pontifical Commission is established by Pope Francise to investigate current accounting practices and implement new strategies for greater fiscal transparency and fiscal responsibility among all Vatican office, 2013
Today is:
Back-to-Front Yad -- Fairy Calendar
Bloomer Day -- anniversary of the opening day of the first US women's rights convention in 1848*
Festival of Honos -- Ancient Roman Calendar (personification of morality and honor)
Full Buck Moon a/k/a Full Thunder Moon or Full Hay Moon; related observances
Adhi-Esala Full Moon Poya Day -- Sri Lanka
Waso Full Moon / Dhamma Cakka Day -- Myanmar
Kokura Gion Taiko -- Yasaka Shrine, Fukuoka City, Japan (shrine festival that incorporates a taiko drumming competition with up to 100 teams; through the 21st)
Liberation Day -- Nicaragua
Martyr's Day -- Myanmar
National Daiquiri Day
Snake River Stampede -- Nampa, ID (the 100th year of one of the top 15 professional rodeo events in the nation; through Saturday)
Stick Out Your Tongue Day -- internet generated, do it just because it's fun
St. Justa's Day (Patron of potters; Seville, Spain)
Triple Play Day -- the first Major League unassisted triple play was made by Neal Ball on this day in 1909
*Amelia Bloomer's birth anniversary on May 27 is also called "Bloomer Day"
Anniversaries Today:
Frank Sinatra marries Mia Farrow, 1966
Isis marries Osiris (year unknown, ask the ancient Egyptians!)
Adonis marries Aphrodite (year unknown, ask the ancient Greeks!)
Birthdays Today:
Stephen Anthony Lawrence, 1990
Jared Padalecki, 1982
Topher Grace, 1978
Angela Griffin, 1976
Clea Lewis, 1965
Anthony Edwards, 1962
Campbell Scott, 1962
Brian May, 1947
Ilie Nastase, 1946
Vikki Carr, 1941
Arthur Rankin, Jr., 1924
George McGovern, 1922
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, 1921
Eve Merriam, 1916
Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, 1904 (last direct descendent of Abraham Lincoln)
Max Fleischer, 1883
Charles Horace Mayo, 1865
Lizzie Borden, 1860
Edgar Degas, 1834
Samuel Colt, 1814
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"That's All Right"(Elvis' first single release), 1954
Today in History
A dragon more than 100 metres long was found dead on Yehwang Mountain in Henan province and was seen as a bad omen for Emperor Huan, who ignored it and died at age 35 (three years later); Xiang Kai, who had warned him of the omen, was released from the prison the emperor had placed him in, and lionised as a hero, BCE164
Moslem forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeated the Visigoths led by their king Roderic, 711
A hailstorm brings down the ceilings of the Papal Palace, Rome, 1500
Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after having that title for just nine days, 1553
Five women are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692
Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England, 1701
Australia's first recorded use of gaslight was commenced in a Sydney shop, 1826
The British Medical Association was founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association by Sir Charles Hastings at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary, 1832
The two day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York; "bloomers," named after developer Amelia Bloomer, are worn at this very early feminist convention, 1848
A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg explodes over the town of Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona causing approximately 16,000 pieces of debris to rain down on the town, 1912
Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 metres (347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention, 1963
The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua, 1979
The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published, 1983
President Clinton announces his idea for a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in regards to gays in the US military, 1993
A Tel Aviv judges orders safe deposit boxes that contain manuscripts of Franz Kafka to be opened, 2010
A Pontifical Commission is established by Pope Francise to investigate current accounting practices and implement new strategies for greater fiscal transparency and fiscal responsibility among all Vatican office, 2013
