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An armed man who killed two people in a Kroger supermarket in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, attempted Wednesday to enter a mostly black church before the attack, police said Thursday.
The man, Gregory Bush, 51, of Louisville, was sued Thursday for two counts of murder and 10 counts of wrongful harm. He was detained on bail of $ 5 million. Police said she was investigating the motive for the attack, which killed Vickie Lee Jones, 67, and Maurice E. Stallard, 69.
The two were black, while Mr. Bush was white, and the son of a witness said that his father had heard the shooter make a racist remark during the episode, although the police said can not confirm this account. Mr. Bush has a history of mental illness, Chief Sam Rogers of the Jeffersontown Police Department at a news conference on Thursday.
Police said there was no indication that Mr. Bush knew one or the other of the victims and that he had no known connection with the grocery store.
Chief Rogers and church officials said the surveillance video recorded Bush's unsuccessful attempt to enter the nearby Jeffersontown Baptist Church shortly before the attack.
Billy Williams, the church administrator, said eight to 10 people were inside the church when Bush arrived after a mid-week service. A church member in the parking lot alarmed when she saw him shoot aggressively at the front doors of the historic church. Mr. Bush left after less than 10 minutes.
"There were 70 people here at our weekly meeting just an hour before it passed," said Mr. Williams, who was among them. "I'm just grateful that all our doors and security was in place."
He added that they were praying for the families of the victims. Both had parents who attended the church, which recently celebrated its 185th birthday.
After leaving the church, police said, Bush headed to the Kroger. They said that he entered just before 3 pm. and shot Mr. Stallard several times. He then went out and fired at Mrs. Jones in the parking lot, Chief Rogers said, knocking several times.
Mr. Bush was arrested by an armed spectator who shot him in the parking lot, and whose name the police did not publish. Mr. Bush tried to run away, but he was caught by police officers. Chief Rogers said Mr. Bush was arrested four minutes after the police received the first call for help.
Mr. Stallard and Ms. Jones were declared dead on the scene.
Chief Rogers stated that there was contradictory information about a second armed person in the supermarket and that he could not confirm the story of a local man who spoke to reporters on Wednesday .
This man, Steve Zinninger, said a local television station that his father had also confronted Mr. Bush with a gun. Mr. Zinninger says the armed man told his father, "Whites do not kill whites," and passed.
Local media reported that Mr. Bush had a long criminal history, including charges of assault, domestic violence and threats, including the use of racial epithets.
A Facebook page that seems to belong to Mr. Bush includes a long description of his struggles with mental illness.
"My paranoid-schizophrenia eventually stopped me working and now I'm on mental disability," it says. "I'm lucky I did it right here with all the problems I had when I got my medicine. "
Chief Rogers stated that the representatives of F.B.I. and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was participating in the investigation and would be trying to determine whether the handgun he had used, in his view, had been obtained legally.
Mr. Stallard was the father of Kellie Watson, who works as Louisville's Chief Fairness Officer. In a statement, Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville said he was "sick, sorry and angry," and asked the public to respect the family's privacy.
Jones's nephew Kevin Gunn said she was "a good Christian woman and would not hurt a fly." "
During a telephone interview, Mr. Gunn, 48, said that his aunt had retired from the local Veterans Hospital and was taking part in the care of an elderly member. the family. He called the shooting "foolish".
"It sounds a lot more like a mental illness," he said. "It sounds like a hate crime."
"Yesterday was sad," Mr. Gunn said. "Today, I am angry."
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