The faithful are fighting with the church shooter once their colleague

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Minister Joey Spann observed Friday that 27-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson had been convicted of first degree murder for killing one person and injuring seven others when he had bombed the house. church and followers of Spann in 2017.

It was difficult for Spann to recognize Samson as the same young man who taught the Bible School vacation at the Burnett Chapel Church of Christ in Nashville a few years ago and who was sitting in front of his cousins ​​to hear Spann preach on Sunday.

Spann said that he had thought of Samson's world at that time. And Samson praised all the church members present at the witness stand, calling them receptive, kind, warm, and compassionate.

Samson's memories as a young and passionate companion of worship were scattered in the testimony of Spann and his multicultural congregation, who struggled with grief and anger and struggled to forgive as they relived the shooting. in court this week. The impact was evident by observing Spann's gesture during the trial testimony. One of his fingers left because of the shooting.

For Spann, the contrast became more striking when they heard recordings of Samson and his ex-girlfriend, mocking the victims' phones and boasting about the quality of their media coverage. In a recorded appeal on the prison line, Samson's ex-girlfriend ridicules Spann for telling reporters how he had told his wife that he thought he was dying when he had been touched and that he was bleeding in the chest.

Spann said the congregation still had not heard Samson say, "I'm sorry."

"It pissed me off, and knowing the guy we knew, it was hard for a year and a half to two years to want this boy in prison forever," Spann told reporters on Friday. "But it's not hard to want this guy in prison forever."

Samson, who has been convicted of the 43 counts, is black and the victims are white. He left a note on the 2015 massacre in a black church in South Carolina and aimed to kill at least 10 white worshipers by taking revenge, prosecutors said. Jurors will consider a life sentence without the possibility of parole and may decide on Tuesday.

Samson testified that he did not remember committing the crime. He stated that his mental disorders had resulted in memory loss and a constant evolution of the feeling of ecstasy at the suicidal thoughts he had experienced on the morning of the shooting. He is under medical treatment in prison and this has slowed his thoughts, he testified.

On the day of the shooting, Melanie L. Crow of Smyrna, Tennessee, was directed to the car to get pissed off after the end of the service. The mother of two, aged 38, was shot in the parking lot and dropped her Bible and church notes. Wearing a motorcycle-style clown mask, Samson followed a fire of bullets inside the church.

At trial, the judge limited what could be said in front of jurors about Samson's mental illness. Defense attorney Jennifer Lynn Thompson said the case had been found not to meet the criteria of the defense of insanity.

Prior to the trial, the judge largely concealed the details of the case in public view. At a public hearing held in April, it was revealed that a psychiatrist had diagnosed at Samson "schizoaffective bipolar disorder" and post-traumatic stress disorder after a violent and violent education, which his sister started detailing at the beginning of his sentencing hearing on Friday.

For Armilla Bishop, Samson was part of the family of his church. A few years later, the nurse found herself in a house of worship riddled with bullets and providing crucial assistance to Minister Spann's chest injury.

"They helped get the cars out of the middle of the road, we ate together," Bishop said about Samson and his cousins ​​during their visit to Burnette. "They helped us organize skits for the holiday Bible school.They were involved, always trying to learn more and trying to grow up."

"We loved them, they were adorable young men," she said.

Spann said that there was some disagreement in the congregation as to whether the death penalty should have been sought. But with life without parole now, Spann said he hoped the Samson he once knew would come back – even if it's in a prison cell where he could spend the rest of his life.

"He was young and I think, through experience, that he chose the wrong way and that he was influenced by the wrong people," Spann said. "I would have liked him to ride that day and that he just came in. He was in the right place, he just came for the wrong reason."