Why Six Years to Settle Church Mass Shooter Incident?

After 6 years The U.S. Department of Justice reached a lawsuit settlement regarding the unprecedented Christian Church Mass Shooter incident in Sutherland Springs, Texas in 2017 where 26 people were killed. The assailant was never added by the Air Force to the information needed for local law enforcement to be notified of his history as a person of concern which would have restricted him from use of weapons and artillery type equipment. Questions remain as to why this has taken so long as this protocol was well established prior to the incident. It raises the concern that faith-based organizations have a greater risk of justice denied when justice is delayed for 6 years! 

According to The Daily Signal there have been triple the number of attacks on Christian churches just this year which is precisely why all churches need to be a ReadyChurch to protect and defend the right to freedom of worship without coercion. Why did this legal battle happen? What are the steps Churches need to take to protect against this protocol being broken again? 

Faith based Organizations Own Preparedness

Questions remain as to why this has taken so long to resolve as this protocol was well established prior to the incident. It raises the concern that faith-based organizations have a greater risk of justice - justice denied when justice is delayed for 6 years! The Sutherland Springs church, while part of the Southern Baptist Convention denomination, did not have a spokesperson to begin gathering the timely accurate information and sharing it appropriately. On the day of the incident it was a National Guard person who reported the incident to the congregants, not one of their own public information trained leaders. They did not have their own trained Public Information leader in place to handle the information related to the incident for law enforcement, or to communicate timely to their own congregation. 

In this case, the Sutherland Springs church did not have their own Safety Security team in place that worked with other churches nearby. Churches are often not in contact with one another to even know when suspicious people are roaming their halls or scouting the perimeters or floor plans making them more at risk. This is why it is important to conduct the  ReadyChurch training so that memos of understanding are reached with churches within the same zip code so they can support each other in suspicious behavior recognition. This may have prevented the Sutherland Springs church attack even though they were in a rural location. 

Law Enforcement Do Not Share Motives

One of the reasons for the rise in attacks on churches in the past two years is that law enforcement are reluctant to provide the hard data on incidents or motives behind the incidents. Whether it is to avoid copycat incidents or reluctance to go down the arduous road in filing for a “hate crime” against a house of worship the hard data is not readily available. With churches being soft targets this is especially problematic. 

This is why, again, it is important for the church to be a ReadyChurch to be aware of suspicious activity and know whom to report it to for a timely trusted relational response with local law enforcement.

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied

 

The legal battle happened because some people did not do their job. The Air Force had the responsibility to make known the background of the assailant in a timely manner before the incident occurred and 26 lives perished. 

The fact that it took six years for this settlement to be reached indicates the U.S. government did not take immediate responsibility on their part to bring swift justice nor did the Air Force acknowledge their error. While we cannot conjecture as to the motive behind the assailant, the fact that justice was not rendered in a timely manner is also a concern. Justice delayed is justice denied.  

What are the steps Churches need to take to protect against this protocol being broken again? 

Churches need to have trained response teams made up of a simple incident command leadership structure with back ups to handle any emergency whether it is the everyday crisis in the church, a situation like the Sutherland Springs church, or a natural disaster response. Churches who have taken ReadyChurch training are better prepared to work closely with law enforcement and emergency management when a crisis happens. 

To speak with CEN ReadyChurch and twenty year veteran FB Government affairs expert Mary Marr , call 877-930-8830, or email a question to:  mary.marr@christianemergencynetwork.org