John Bohstedt: Historian Helped Disarm Gunman in Church Shootings
John Bohstedt thought it was odd when a stranger carrying a guitar case walked into his Knoxville, Tenn., church last Sunday just after children had begun to perform a play. "There are no guitars in this play," the recently retired professor remembers thinking.
Members of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, near the University of Tennessee campus, had gathered to watch the children put on Annie Jr. The performance was the culmination of a two-week musical camp. Mr. Bohstedt, 64, had been cast as Daddy Warbucks and was waiting to go onstage, standing in a hallway outside the church sanctuary. His granddaughter, visiting from Alabama, had two small parts in the play as well: as a servant and an apple seller.
Engrossed in the play, the audience didn't immediately grasp what was happening when the man pulled a semiautomatic shotgun from the guitar case and opened fire. Two people were killed and seven others were injured in the attack.
Mr. Bohstedt moved toward the shooter after the first shot rang out. Screams erupted after the second and third shots, and the man stopped to reload.
"I rushed at him," said Mr. Bohstedt, an emeritus history professor who retired this summer from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "My objective was to get the gun and point it up."
He felt no personal danger as he and several other people in the congregation overpowered the shooter. They restrained the man until police officers took him into custody. Mr. Bohstedt said he took off his suspenders—part of his costume—in an effort to bind the shooter's arms....
Read entire article at Chronicle of Higher Ed
Members of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, near the University of Tennessee campus, had gathered to watch the children put on Annie Jr. The performance was the culmination of a two-week musical camp. Mr. Bohstedt, 64, had been cast as Daddy Warbucks and was waiting to go onstage, standing in a hallway outside the church sanctuary. His granddaughter, visiting from Alabama, had two small parts in the play as well: as a servant and an apple seller.
Engrossed in the play, the audience didn't immediately grasp what was happening when the man pulled a semiautomatic shotgun from the guitar case and opened fire. Two people were killed and seven others were injured in the attack.
Mr. Bohstedt moved toward the shooter after the first shot rang out. Screams erupted after the second and third shots, and the man stopped to reload.
"I rushed at him," said Mr. Bohstedt, an emeritus history professor who retired this summer from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "My objective was to get the gun and point it up."
He felt no personal danger as he and several other people in the congregation overpowered the shooter. They restrained the man until police officers took him into custody. Mr. Bohstedt said he took off his suspenders—part of his costume—in an effort to bind the shooter's arms....