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Fulton County Police Dept. Via AP
Floyd Palmer is accused in the fatal shooting of a church volunteer.
A man accused of killing a volunteer leading a prayer service at a Georgia megachurch was charged more than a decade ago with shooting a co-worker at a mosque in Maryland, according to police documents.
Floyd Palmer was acting as security at a Baltimore mosque in June 2001 when he shot another man working with him, wounding him in the back, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday. Palmer tried to fire the gun again, but it jammed. When other people ran over to him, he turned the gun on them, but it again wouldn't fire, according to the documents.
The report did not say why Palmer shot the man in the back.
But Christine Singleterry, Palmer’s former mother-in-law, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Palmer shot the man following an argument. “He got him to go outside and then shot him in the parking lot,” she was quoted as saying. She told the newspaper Palmer served about 18 months in a mental facility and was released.
It's not clear when he made his way to Atlanta. He had been working as a maintenance facilities employee at World Changers Church International near College Park, but quit in August for "personal reasons," Fulton County Police Cpl. Kay Lester said.
On Wednesday, authorities said Palmer, 51, calmly walked into a chapel as Greg McDowell, 39, was leading a morning prayer service for a group of about 25 people.
Only McDowell was shot. Authorities are trying to figure out if the two men knew each other.
Palmer casually walked out of the chapel and police arrested him several hours later when they spotted his station wagon at a mall in suburban Atlanta. Police said they have not found the gun.
John Bazemore / AP
A Fulton County Sheriff's Deputy stands guard outside the World Changers International church after a fatal shooting inside on Wednesday.
Police searched Palmer’s apartment in Riverdale in Clayton County on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the Journal-Constitution reported. They removed several items from the apartment, but it was not immediately clear what they took out, the newspaper said.
Visibly distraught members of McDowell's family showed up at the Fulton County jail for Palmer's first court hearing Thursday, but he waived his appearance.
Palmer faces charges of homicide murder, felony murder, aggravated assault murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. His next hearing is Nov. 8.
Ken Terry, a church pastor acting as a spokesman for McDowell's family, said the church family was distraught and trying to comfort McDowell's family.
"He would be considered a model dad," Terry said. "To have this happen is just devastating."
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Renee Sunshine Lewis of the Fulton County victim assistance program called McDowell "a very loving person, extremely loving" and said "the family is just asking for prayers at this time."
Although the campus has security officers and surveillance cameras, Lester said the suspect was known to some at the service, so his presence wouldn't have been unusual.
The violence upset members and neighbors of the church, which is one of the largest in the United States, claiming 30,000 members at the main campus and a ministry of satellite churches across the country.
World Changers is led by the Rev. Creflo Dollar, who was not there at the time of the shooting.
Along with Bishop Eddie Long, Dollar is one of the most prominent African-American preachers based around Atlanta who have built successful ministries on the prosperity gospel, which teaches that God wants to bless the faithful with earthly riches.
Dollar didn't immediately respond to media requests for comment, but he preached Wednesday evening at a Bible study in the campus's larger World Dome sanctuary. He repeated the importance of having faith in God even when bad things happen and rejecting fear and doubt.
"We pray for this family," he said, referring to McDowell. "We pray for both families and then we pray for every family that's in here tonight."
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Leave a Comment:
18 months in the loony bin and he cant stay away from churches.hmmmm....
At least he isn't giving preference to any specific denomination.
Once again it brings up the point who decides when someone who is mentally incompetent should be released back into the public. Nobody monitors their med's even if they work. Now what....another period of incarceration...then what. Can't help thinking of the Canadian Greyhound bus cannibal who sliced up a fellow traveller then ate body parts as horrified debussed passengers watched until police arrived. Well that guy is presently on day leave from his institution and "supposedly" in remission now that he is on med's. Very scary that they walk amongst us.
Hey if you are like that Dick, Murdouck guy, who cares? It was God's will for that life to end, obviously.....
The Devil made him do it. If, we allowed the Muslims, to try him in Sharia court, he might not of done this again.
for anyone who doesn't believe that there is good and evil, look around. And for anyone who don't believe in God, they don't believe in good and evil. God and the devil exist in this world and one would think that the devil is winning the battle, but those who have faith knows that God is still in control. Why then do God allow bad things to happen? He doesn't allow anything bad to happen, that's man doing. Remember God gave us freedom to choose. If we choose Good we are rewarded Good, if we choose evil, we are rewarded Evil.
4ever,the man was doing good by going to church to study and pray and BANG shot dead.something is amiss with your theory.
There are a lot of ways to look at this tragedy. Thre are a great number of mental patients who are released, stay on their medications and never harm anyone ever again. So, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. What we need to do is find better ways of managing the mentally ill, but that's going to cost money and in this economy, I just don' t see that happening.
From a religious point of view, God gave us free will. The turth is that life is difficult and uncontrollable, even for those who believe. We aren't puppets who go through life with our strings being pulled. If one believes the bible and reads it carefully, it shows that God wants and loving full relationship with us. Just as you cannot control another adult, you can only ask them to do what you need them to do. If you think you are safe, you are just kidding yourself. So, live your life in a way that at the end, you will know that you did the best you could.
The only way religion is to blame for this is if a religious organization lobbied hard to get this guy released after 18 mos for what was clearly an attempted murder. I guess if you're crazy and the gun jams, you're no longer a threat to society... unless after 18 mos you're still crazy and find a gun that works.
Once again proving my theory that medical professionals (in this case psychiatric ones) are knuckleheads. "Hey! He tried to kill a bunch of people, but the gun didn't work, so 'sall good brah! Let's release him into society! Like totally! Those spinal injections? Yeah, just put them next to that pile of fungussesses"
God is in control! That is until the wiring in someone like this goes all wrong and science takes over.
vox, why would the wiring go wrong in the 1st place?
R Battle, I think that Vox was being facetious.
hope so. hard to tell sometimes.
One, two, three.... cue the religion haters. Mention religion and no matter what out come those who use the internet to vent what they wouldn't dare say in public.
I don't think I am a religious hater, just choose not to partake in that lunacy because of words like this (quoted from above):
"have built successful ministries on the prosperity gospel, which teaches that God wants to bless the faithful with earthly riches."
I guess everyone has their own interpretation of what their god wants, huh?
So much for "rehabilitation" efforts.
Do it the easy way this time. try him, find him guilty, bring him outside and execute him. No need to worry about another case of recidivism.
XD, I know you will be in agreement here, but this is another perfect example why we don't need more "gun laws". We just need to get tougher on crime. If the guy had been taken care of the first time, he never would have had a chance to do this. Why was this idiot allowed back on the street?
As Toby Keith says we need to "put a few more in the ground". "Take all the rope in Texas, find a tall oak tree".
Mr.Steady
Couldn't agree more... couldn't agree more.
Unfortunately, there are people that don't want to accept that there ARE people born who are just evil. And they also can't grasp the concept that the only people who obey the law are the law abiding citizens. We have a segment of society that have the distinction of being called CRIMINAL for a reason.
Any regular law abider can kill viciously an innocent should a fate befall them which finds itself such an outcome... For instance, If a tumor developed in your brain you can't be certain you wouldn't end up changing completely from the collected individual you are, to a total wreckless nutcase who is willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill whatever they think it is they need @ the time... I'm not trying to say the man in this story deserves any sort of compassion because he's obviously pretty @!$%#ed... But don't assume you are immune to @!$%# happening. @!$%# happens. And any man, woman or child can cause it under certain circumstances.
Let me say though I do support the death penalty under certain circumstances and attempt murder is something I would employ the penalty for if the attempted murderer causes significant harm to his victim.
Whoever cleared this kook from the mental ward needs to have their license revoked. They are as much a menace to society as this one. That being said, strap this scum to a gurney and let the paralyzing agent run through its veins. Be done with this trash.
So 18 months if you only "almost kill" lots of people in Maryland, or leave them a brain-dead vegetable lying in the hospital for the rest of their so-called life.
However, if you kill them then you get the death penalty or life in prison. "Criminals" serve more time in Maryland for traffic violations than they do for several counts of attempted murder.
He just had a poor upbringing. Bless his little heart awwww. If you shoot someone in the back and try to shoot others it should me life at a hard labor camp.
Ban hanguns.
Maybe he came from a single parent household, at least that is what Romney says causes gun violence.
I don't understand it - attempted murder and he gets 18 months in a looney bin then gets released... then he murders again?
Hey, Pete, the person to blame for this guy's shooting in the church is the judge who gave him 18 months in the nut house, when he should have gotten 10 years in prison.
the only difference between murder and attempted murder is the success ratio. why should attempted murder get a lesser punishment? This man should never have been allowed to walk among us and it is our own government that fails us in this respect. We should demand that criminals be permanently separated from society and compelled to pay their own way while incarcerated.
He's a psychopath.I will bet money that he has murdered other people but didn't get caught.May he be given the death penalty.
The public wants to know about child offenders so they can't move into the neighborhood or live near schools. How about the burglars, armed robbers, shooters, and, most of all, the white collar crooks. We, the public, should have access to the criminal records of every felon in the country. It's time to stop playing favorites and bring some sanity, if possible, to the American system of justice.
If he has a history of mental health problems where did the gun come from? If the laws requiring background checks weren't followed someone needs to go to jail. If it was bought at a gun show or privately we need to rethink that loophole, and if it was stolen maybe people should be required to put guns in a gunsafe when they are not in their immediate possession.
i think keeping loons in storage is more important.
obviously, a religious defense, the devil made him do it, or maybe his dog told him what to do
Why is he not being charged with a convicted felon in posession of a firearm,or mentally ill in posession of a firearm.He was allready breaking federal law just by touching a gun. People want to punish law abiding citizens with more gun control laws when the authorities are not willing to enforce the ones we have.We have gun control laws that seem like they would work pretty fair for everyone if they were only enforced,but our system wants to punish me for what this guy did instead.
AMEN!!!!
Maybe he was just mad that he didn't get his pie in the sky right now with ice cream on top, and didn't want to wait bye and by when he died. Oh, wait! That was Reverend Ike. But he's dead now, so Creflo can run the same scam.
Can we make it any easier for crazy people to get a weapon? Plug the holes people!
Yea, call them crazy then turn them loose to do it all over again.
Lesson: If you want to kill people, don't use a gun. Join an Insurance Company and use a spreadsheet!
All the benefits of killing without any of the consequences.
Johnathan Ivan,Your comments are sad but true.Insurance companies are running this country even though everybody says that it's the banks.
Yep all the prayers in the World never stop crime, murder, mayhem or other dastardly deeds. They also never bring back the dead. Now if this person spent 18 months for shooting someone and tried to kill more folks but the gun jammed that is what is inane. This person is dead because of the lame Justice System we have let others take control of. No wonder Man and the World are in the shape it's in. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Get used to it.
Hang the SOB
If we didn't have liberals fighting to reduce sentences for these types of people, then some of these crimes would never happen. This guy should not have been out of prison. I think we should impose a minimum of 30 years in prison without parole for any crime involving a firearm, and a minimum of life in prison without parole if you shoot someone that is not considered self-defense. Its obvious that these criminals have no regard for the law, because they know they will only get a slap on the wrist. It's time the strong arm of the law to come crashing down on criminals.
Eighteen months in a mental hospital for attempted murder, apparently due to being actively psychotic at the time. Yet, he's released from the hospital with what kind of follow-up and supervision? Since the downsizing and closure of so many state mental hospitals - isn't it time to consider involuntary medication for this type of offender? Like a mental health parole system to ensure the person continues to take their anti-psychotic medication. I know the mental health patient rights advocates will be screaming at the suggestion. I get it that it's a small percentage of individuals with mental illness that commit violent crimes. But there are people like this man who has already shown he will harm people if he's off medication.
Isn't it time to consider involuntary, long-term medication management for this sub-group of individuals?