Tennessee Church Shooting Suspect Had Note Referencing Charleston Attack: Report

ANTIOCH, TN — The man charged with killing one woman and injuring seven people in a shooting at Antioch's Burnette Chapel Church of Christ wrote a note referencing the 2015 attack at a Charleston church, sources told the Associated Press.

The report summarized to the Associated Press said that “in sum and in no way verbatim,” the note written by Emanuel Samson, 25, referenced revenge or retaliation for Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine black worshippers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in 2015. Roof has since been sentenced to death. It wasn’t clear what precisely Samson is alleged to have written about the Mother Emanuel shooting.

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The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation, according to the AP. Metro Nashville Police declined to comment, saying it had not released the information.

Samson is charged with the murder of Melanie Crow, a 39-year-old mother of two gunned down in the parking lot of the church as services were wrapping up Monday. After killing her, Samson allegedly entered the sanctuary, injuring seven other people, including the church's minister, before he was subdued by 22-year-old lifelong church member and usher Caleb Engle.

Image via Metro Nashville Police