NASHVILLE – The man accused of fatally shooting a woman and wounding six people at a Tennessee church in September faces a 43-count indictment, including charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and felony civil rights intimidation.
The grand jury indictment in Davidson County against 26-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson comes several months after the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ shooting in Nashville. He has been held without bond since September. His arraignment is March 28. He hasn’t appeared in court yet.
An arrest affidavit from September says Samson waived his rights and told police he arrived armed and fired at the church. The Sunday shooting rampage killed 38-year-old Melanie L. Crow of Smyrna, Tenn. She was shot in the church parking lot.
All of the victims in the church shooting were white, but authorities have not definitively said whether they believe Samson, who is black, specifically targeted them based on their race or not. The indictment doesn’t specify which civil rights were infringed upon.
In October, Nashville Police Detective Steve Jolley testified a note in Samson’s car referred to a white supremacist’s 2015 massacre at a South Carolina black church.