A crew of alleged gang members did not just steal the Rev. Larry J. Mathis' car, keys and wallet at gunpoint. They threatened his faith.
"Most things I do, I do on faith," Mathis explained to a Knox County Criminal Court jury Monday. "The first thing I thought of was why did this happen to me? We've never had any trouble with these guys, never. It almost changed my whole idea of the world."
Mathis was robbed and carjacked in what authorities say turned into a murderous crime spree by a group Chattanooga gang members who came to Knoxville to initiate a new member. What began as an initiation practice of forcing a new recruit to commit "randoms" - robberies of strangers like Mathis - led, prosecutors say, to the shooting death of hardworking, much-admired handyman and father of eight Jack Hutchins Jr., 52, of the Parkridge community.
Read the full story from our news partner, knoxnews.com, here.