It happened again.
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Texas Gunman Kills 4 in Church, Then Self
By ANABELLE GARAY, Associated Press WriterMon Aug 29,10:32 PM ET
A gunman killed four people near a small-town church, then killed
himself early Monday after a nine-hour standoff with police, authorities
said.
Police said witnesses told them that Freddie L. Cranshaw, who lived
across the street from the Sash Assembly of God church, exchanged words
in the church parking lot Sunday night with church member Wes Brown, who
asked Cranshaw to leave.
Cranshaw, 54, who authorities said had only a partial right arm,
returned a short time later and shot Brown, 61, at close range, and then
shot the pastor, James Armstrong, 42, witnesses said.
Deputies found both men dead in a grassy area next to the parking lot,
Fannin County Sheriff Kenneth Moore said.
Cranshaw then drove to an intersection, where he shot at a truck towing
a horse trailer and then killed the two women in the truck after they
tried to flee and hide. Witnesses told police they could hear the women
screaming, authorities said.
Police identified the women Ceri Litterio, 46, and Holly Love Brown, 50.
"We believe it was just random," Moore said of the women's slayings.
"They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Police believe Cranshaw then returned home, pausing along the way to
shoot at a house near the church but not hitting anyone.
A 10-member SWAT team made two attempts to enter Cranshaw's house but
retreated when he shot at them, Moore said.
Police finally entered the house about 6 a.m. after firing tear gas
inside. Cranshaw was found in a bedroom with a gunshot wound to the
head, Moore said. Police believe Cranshaw had shot himself up to an hour
earlier.
The guns apparently used in the shootings a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol
and a .38-caliber revolver were found in the house along with a
shotgun, rifle and ammunition, Moore said.
Grady Pior, who lives across from Cranshaw and next door to the church,
said he and his wife had called police a couple of times about
Cranshaw's disruptive behavior. He said Cranshaw would shout obscenities
at them and fire a gun, but authorities never arrested him because he
stayed within the bounds of his property.
Pior said he learned from church members that Cranshaw had left
rambling, nonsensical notes on their cars and cursed and yelled at them
then they left services. Pior said he had started carrying a gun when he
mowed his yard in case of a confrontation with Cranshaw.
"I feel guilty about not being home to help somebody," Pior said. "He's
the only person in my life that I've had a strange feeling about."
Moore said the shootings had shaken Sash, a community of 300 people
about 120 miles north of Dallas, near the Oklahoma state line.
"It's a tragic situation," he said.
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zjhWbqM_ICIYBGwpDjlG2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
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John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
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