Wedgewood Baptist Church shooting

On September 15, 1999, a mass shooting occurred at Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. 47-year-old Larry Gene Ashbrook entered during a See You at the Pole Rally featuring a concert by the Christian rock group Forty Days, where he killed seven people and wounded eight others before committing suicide.

"Fort Worth shooting" redirects here. For the fatal shooting of an African-American woman by police in 2019, see Killing of Atatiana Jefferson.
Wedgewood Baptist Church shooting
Part of mass shootings in the United States
Wedgewood Baptist Church, where the shooting occurred
LocationFort Worth, Texas, U.S.
DateSeptember 15, 1999 (September 15, 1999)
TargetCongregants
Attack type
Mass shooting, mass murder, murder-suicide
Weapons
Deaths8 (including the perpetrator)
Injured7
PerpetratorLarry Gene Ashbrook

Shooting

Ashbrook interrupted a teen prayer rally in the Wedgwood Baptist Church, slamming his hand on a door to make his presence known. Spouting anti-Baptist rhetoric, he opened fire with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and a .380-caliber handgun. He reloaded several times during the shooting; three empty magazines were found at the scene. Seven people were killed, four of whom were teenagers (a 14-year-old boy, two 14-year-old girls and a 17-year-old boy). Three people sustained major injuries while four others received relatively minor injuries.

At Ashbrook's home, police found a pipe, end caps to enclose the pipe, gunpowder and a fuse. Ashbrook had thrown a pipe bomb into the church, but it exploded vertically, and did not injure anyone.

During the shooting, Ashbrook was confronted by a 19-year-old former football lineman, Jeremiah "Jeremy" Neitz, who recounted the ensuing conversation for the Houston Press:[1]

I don't know why, but I just sat there, looking at him as he came toward me. When he got to within about five feet, he pointed one of his guns at me and just glared. I told him, "Sir, you don't have to be doing this." He told me to shut the hell up. Then he asked me what my religion was, and I told him I was a Christian, a Baptist. He said, "That sucks," and that it was "a stupid religion." [Neitz replied] "No sir, it doesn't suck. It's a wonderful thing. God put me on this earth for a reason. I'm certain of that."

Ashbrook fired several more rounds and yelled, "This religion is bullshit." Neitz replied, "Sir, what you need is Jesus Christ in your life." Neitz asked Ashbrook "What about you?" Ashbrook replied, "Fuck off" and "I can't believe you believe in this junk."[2] He then sat down and shot himself.[1][3] Time magazine described accounts of the confrontation as "unconfirmed" and possibly "pious invention",[4] but the Houston Press wrote that the story had been confirmed, quoting the Fort Worth police detective who had interviewed Neitz: "Maybe he did frustrate Ashbrook with what he was saying. There's no way we'll ever really know. All I can say is that I'm impressed by what he did that evening. It was a very brave thing. You have to admire that."[1]

Victims
  • Kristi Beckel, 14
  • Shawn C. Brown, 23
  • Sydney R. Browning, 36
  • Joseph D. Ennis, 14
  • Cassandra Griffin, 14
  • Susan Kimberley Jones, 23
  • Justin Stegner Ray, 17

Perpetrator
Larry Gene Ashbrook, the perpetrator

The shooter was 47-year-old Larry Gene Ashbrook (July 10, 1952[5] – September 15, 1999).

Personality and mental state

Nine years before the shooting, Ashbrook's mother died. This reportedly sent him into a cycle of erratic and frightening behavior. Ashbrook lived for many years with his father, Jack D. Ashbrook. Across the street from the Ashbrooks' home, neighbors said they saw Ashbrook treat his father violently but were afraid to report it. Newspaper editor Stephen Kaye, whom Ashbrook had visited days before the shooting, described him as being "the opposite of someone you'd be concerned about", saying he "couldn't have been any nicer."

However, his neighbors had an entirely different view of him, describing him as strange and violent. Investigators at his house discovered that he had virtually destroyed the interior of his house - holes were bashed into the walls with crowbars, the toilets were filled with concrete, and the fruit trees growing in the front yard had been poisoned.[1]

Police investigating the shooting could find no solid motive for the crime. In the months before the shooting, people who knew Ashbrook said he became increasingly paranoid, certain that he was being framed for serial murder and other crimes that he did not commit. He also feared that the CIA was targeting him, and he reported psychological warfare, assaults by co-workers and being drugged by the police. Just days before the shooting he voiced these concerns to a newspaper, saying "I want someone to tell my story, no one will listen to me; no one will believe me."

According to Houston-area writer John Craig, Ashbrook had ties to the Phineas Priesthood and Christian Identity, both of which view mainstream Christianity as an enemy.[6]

Media

And A Time To Heal: Wedgwood Baptist Church, 2010

Meredith, Al (2019). Surviving Catastrophe: Lessons Learned from the Wedgwood Shooting. Independently Published. ISBN 978-1086464016.

Crawford, Dan R. (2019). The Light Shines On: An Update of "Night of Tragedy Dawning of Light: The Wedgwood Baptist Shootings". Worldwide Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1684118519.

See also

References
  1. Carlton Stowers (1999-11-04). "Faith's Fusillade". Houston Press.
  2. "Texas Killer Described as Abusive Loner". Chicago Tribune.
  3. Lynn Vincent (1999-10-09). "Gunpoint evangelist". Christian World News.
  4. David Van Biema (1999-10-20). "Terror In The Sanctuary". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on January 27, 2001.
  5. Texas Birth Records, United States census,. Retrieved on 02/18/2011.
  6. "Texas Gunman Tied to Hate Groups; Writings Show Persecution Feelings". Los Angeles Times. 18 September 1999.

32.6643°N 97.3845°W / 32.6643; -97.3845

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