Children were inside St. Mary Magdalen in Abbeville, Louisiana, waiting to take their first Holy Communion, the church said.
Churchgoers thwarted a teenager armed with a rifle from entering a Louisiana church full of children Saturday in a service that was being livestreamed, authorities said.
Police were called to St. Mary Magdalen Church in Abbeville, 20 miles south of Lafayette, at 10:35 a.m. when the 16-year-old suspect tried to get in via the back door.
Around 60 children were inside the Catholic church at the time waiting to take their first Holy Communion, the church said.
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The suspect was arrested and later charged with terrorizing the church and two counts of possession of a firearm by a juvenile. Witnesses told KADN of Lafayette that he was dressed all in black and armed with the rifle.
It sounds like they’re taking a mental health care based approach which is probably the most likely to prevent recidivism. People who commit mass shootings aren’t sound of mind (neither are lawmakers that prevent common sense gun control, but that’s a separate consideration).
You’re right of course. I let my anger get the better of me, and that’s not how you build a society.
That’s extremely fair - it’s difficult to remain level headed when people are threatened and, I’d argue, impossible, when it’s people you love or value.
Y’all make me so happy with interactions like this sometimes it almost outweighs how big of a POS the internet can be the rest of the time. Maybe there is hope!
Instead, focus that anger towards how they got the gun. I don’t want to assume but oftentimes a parent doesn’t lock up their gun. In cases like that, the parent should be charged.
Ugh… There’s just no way a state like Louisiana has the mental health care apparatus needed for this. Obviously real mental health help is ideal, but I just don’t believe it’ll happen.
If this is the case, then I’m so very glad.
I’m absolutely lost at how things can get so bad that a person’s response is such senseless violence.
It breaks my heart and anyone, especially a youth, can get this lost in the Darkness without someone interceding. Perhaps some have tried. Either way… I hope the youth receives the help they need. If justice needs to be found for something in their past, I hope the authorities can find it and help them. I hope the youth may experience freedom of mind, healing, and goodness.
I’m so so grateful that no one was hurt.
People are very sensitized now. My first thought was “no recidivism if they are in jail for life” but obviously that’s not realistic