The small-town Texas pastor whose teen daughter was among 26 victims slain in a mass shooting wants to tear down the church where the slaughter occurred.
The bullet-riddled First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs will be replaced by a memorial garden under the proposal by Rev. Frank Pomeroy, church officials said Thursday.
Pomeroy, in a meeting with high-level members of the Southern Baptist Convention, said the cozy white church was now “a very painful setting” and called for its demolition.
Charlene Uhl, whose 16-year-old daughter Hayley Krueger died in the massacre, agreed with the proposal. “Nobody should go back to that church again,” she said.
Texas church gunman escaped mental health facility five years ago
“We should still have the church, but elsewhere. This particular one should be gone. I think they need a new one.”
The building had deep significance to the community — and Hayley (top photo)— but now it is irreparably tainted.
“This church, it was part of everybody… She loved it, above anywhere else. It should not open again,” Uhl (bottom photo) said.
As churchgoers began to ponder a permanent memorial where the building stands, Uhl grieved before a row of wooden crosses honoring victims. One of the crosses featured a photo of Hayley, wearing a black-and-white bow.
“This is the most horrible thing ever. No parent should have to bury their child, especially this way,” Uhl said.
Roger Oldham, a Southern Baptist Convention spokesman, said no demolitions plans had been finalized.
“The church is the people, not a building,” Oldham said.
Law enforcement surrounds the scene of the mass shooting at a Texas church on Nov. 5.
(Nick Wagner/AP)
“We will support the pastor’s decision.”
Pomeroy’s 14-year-old daughter, Anabelle, was among the innocent, unarmed worshipers killed in the attack. The pastor and his wife were out of town. The gunman fired more than 400 bullets.
Under the plan, a new church will be constructed on property near the site of the old one. First Baptist had a congregation of roughly 100, with a quarter of them killed in the Sunday morning massacre.
Edgar Sandoval reported from Sutherland Springs, Tex.
Tags: texas texas church shooting religion gun violence mass murder Send a Letter to the Editor Join the Conversation: facebook Tweet
