KNOXVILLE (WVLT) -- Members of the Unitarian Universalist Church community sought support in one another Sunday evening after a man opened fire on a West Knoxville congregation.
Just after dusk, several people stood outside the Westside Unitarian Universalist church in Farragut where they held out candles to remember the victims of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Church in the Sequoyah Hills neighborhood.
“It’s very sad,” said Steve Kopp who attended the vigil. “There is a lot of grieving going on, and people fear their children won’t feel secure.”
The shooting occurred as the church’s youth theater program preformed the musical Annie Jr. in front of the congregation. For that reason, psychiatrists and psychologists also attended the Farragut vigil. That’s where they discussed with talked about how they could reach out and help the children.
“There will need to be a lot of caring and sharing,” said Kopp, “especially for the people who attended that service this morning."
Many were compelled to attend the vigil because they could tell how hard the tragedy had hit the community. Others felt they owed it to the congregation of TVUUC.
Delores Kopp’s daughter got married in the church that fell under fire. While going through all her memories of the place of worship, she found herself struggling to figure out what could have caused the tragedy.
“It may have been someone who flipped out at something in his life,” she said. “He just flipped out and took it out on part of group."
That man, Jim D. Adkisson, 58 of Powell remained in police custody Sunday evening on a $1 million bond. Investigators said they still don’t know why he fired upon the congregation.
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