Truck driver ARRESTED before he could carry out mass shooting at Memphis church – Here’s what we know…

A truck driver was arrested after threatening to carry out a mass shooting at a Memphis church on Thursday and then committing suicide:

NBC NEWS – A truck driver has been arrested after saying he would commit a mass shooting at a church in Memphis, Tennessee, authorities say in newly filed court records.

Thomas Matthew McVicker was apprehended in Indianapolis before the plan could be carried out, according to court papers filed Monday.

McVicker, 38, made “credible threats to conduct a mass shooting and suicide” planned for Thursday, an FBI special agent said in a sworn affidavit.

McVicker, who appears to be a drug addict who is also mentally disturbed, told a friend about it and she in turn told the FBI.

Earlier this month, a friend of McVicker in the southern Alabama town of Fairhope told a Florida FBI agent McVicker has been considering “shooting a church up” or killing people on the street.

Later, in a telephone call, the friend said McVicker told her the church shooting would happen when he was in Memphis on Thursday and that he “intended to take his knife and slit the pastor’s throat.”

His mother told the FBI he owned a Ruger P90 handgun and sometimes uses cocaine and methamphetamine. She also said her son is being treated for schizophrenia. McVicker told his Alabama friend “evil entities entered his body and are torturing him,” the affidavit states.

The scary part is it does look like this was more than a threat. McVicker had asked for time off to go to Memphis on Thursday:

The FBI says it confirmed with McVicker’s employer that he requested leave time Thursday and that he indicated in the request that he would spend the leave time in Memphis, the affidavit states.

The affidavit doesn’t specify a motive, nor does it identify a specific Memphis church. McVicker’s friend did not learn of an exact location from the phone call. However, “McVicker insisted that ‘something’ would happen when he was in Memphis,” the affidavit states.

Here’s what’s strange to me. Thursday seems like an odd day to plan a mass shooting at a church. Evangelical churches don’t normally meet on Thursdays. I’m not sure about other more liturgical protestant churches, but Catholic churches do hold daily Mass everyday throughout the week. So either he was planning something at a specific church that was holding special services on a Thursday or at a Catholic daily Mass. Either way, I’m glad the feds got him before he could carry this out.


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