It was not known whether the attack bore any relation to the sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the Roman Catholic church in the United States and provoked several suicides and the shooting of at least one priest, in Baltimore, last month.
Man, 71, Kills 2 at Missouri Monastery and Then Himself
June 11, 2002
(NY Times) A 71-year-old man wielding an assault rifle opened fire today in a rural Benedictine monastery in northwest Missouri, killing two people at the abbey and seriously wounding two others before fatally shooting himself, law enforcement officials said.
Sheriff Ben Espey of Nodaway County, where the shootings occurred about 90 miles north of Kansas City, said tonight that the motive remained unclear. Mr. Espey identified the gunman as Lloyd Robert Jeffress of Kearney, Mo., a Kansas City suburb.
At a news conference this afternoon, the Rev. Gregory Polan, the abbot of the Conception Abbey, called the gunman a ”total stranger.”
”We have not found anything to connect this man to us,” Father Polan said.
A spokeswoman at the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph said the church authorities there were also bewildered by the shooting.
”We have no idea who this person is,” said Rebecca Summers, the spokeswoman. ”There appears to be no explanation as to why this happened.”
It was not known whether the attack bore any relation to the sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the Roman Catholic church in the United States and provoked several suicides and the shooting of at least one priest, in Baltimore, last month.
The gunman today parked his car outside the brick, twin-towered abbey at 8:20 a.m., entered the building, walked down an L-shaped corridor and opened fire on the first person he saw, Brother Damian Larson, 64, who died at the scene, said Dan Madden, a lay spokesman for the abbey. Mr. Madden said he based his account on a police reconstruction of the events.
Seconds later, in or near the cafeteria, the gunman shot the Rev. Kenneth Reichert, 68, the prior of the monastery, in the abdomen, and the Rev. Norbert Schappler, 73, the director of the printing shop, in the groin and leg, Mr. Madden said.
Walking down another hallway, the gunman shot and killed the Rev. Philip Schuster, who was 85 and had served as a greeter at the monastery’s front door, Mr. Madden said.
Father Reichert and Father Schappler were rushed to hospitals in St. Joseph and Maryville, Mo., where the authorities described their condition as stable tonight.
Mr. Jeffress was discovered slumped in a chapel with a gunshot wound to his head and two weapons, an AK-47 and a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle, near his body, the authorities said.
Timothy J. Stransky, the abbey’s development director, said in an interview, that he had reviewed the abbey’s computerized list of staff, relatives, alumni and donors and had found no connection to Mr. Jeffress. The police told abbey officials tonight that they had found no note in Mr. Jeffress’s car or home, Mr. Stransky.
”People are just shaking their heads and not having much to say at all,” Father Polan said. ”When you spend an entire life with these people and all of a sudden, lives that have been peaceful and generous and giving to others end so dramatically and so tragically, it is just a tremendous shock.”
Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol searched Mr. Jeffress’s home today and were interviewing his neighbors.
A highway patrol spokesman said Mr. Jeffress had no criminal record. Investigators from the patrol were also seeking to contact his brother, the spokesman said.
Mr. Stransky said the police believed that Mr. Jeffress was estranged from his family.
In the course of searching the abbey grounds and building, law enforcement officers discovered tunnels that, it appeared, might prolong their search.
Father Polan said 65 monks belonged to the abbey. Of those, about 50 are at Conception. The remaining 15 work in nearby parishes, hospitals and communities of sisters. There are also about 90 seminarians, he said.
The abbey is on a 30-acre campus. No students or faculty members were there during the attack because the seminary had ended its academic year in mid-May. The complex also has a printing shop, which turns out religious cards and books.
Bishop Raymond J. Boland of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph issued a statement encouraging people to pray for the Conception community.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com
Man, 71, Kills 2 at Missouri Monastery and Then Himself
By SAM DILLON
Published: June 11, 2002