FILE – In this Feb. 20, 2019, file photo, Emanuel Kidega Samson, center, enters the courtroom for a hearing in Nashville, Tenn. Prosecutors have said they’re seeking life without parole for 27-year-old Samson, accused of fatally shooting a woman and wounding several people at a Nashville church. His trial is slated to begin Monday, May 20. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Latest on the trial of man charged in a 2017 Tennessee church shooting (all times local):
10:45 a.m.
A prosecutor says a black man charged with fatally shooting a woman and wounding seven people at a Nashville church aimed to kill at least 10 white churchgoers and cited a 2015 massacre at a black church in South Carolina.
Nashville Deputy District Attorney Amy Hunter made the comments Monday during opening statements of the trial of 27-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson. Prosecutors have said they’re seeking life without parole for Samson, who faces a 43-count indictment, including a first-degree murder charge, in the September 2017 shooting at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ.
Samson is black and the victims are white. Hunter mentioned a note in Samson’s car that cited a white supremacist’s massacre at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
An arrest affidavit says Samson waived his rights and told police he arrived armed and fired at Burnette.
Samson’s attorney, Jennifer Lynn Thompson, said Samson was suicidal and wanted to die that day.
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12 a.m.
A man accused of fatally shooting a woman and wounding seven people at a Nashville church is heading to trial.
Prosecutors have said they’re seeking life without parole for 27-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson, whose trial is slated to begin Monday.
Samson faces a 43-count indictment, including a first-degree murder charge, in the September 2017 shooting at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ.
An arrest affidavit says Samson waived his rights and told police he arrived armed and fired at the church.
A psychiatrist has diagnosed Samson with “schizoaffective disorder bipolar type” and post-traumatic stress disorder after an abusive, violent upbringing.
Samson is black and the victims are white. Authorities haven’t definitively said whether they believe he targeted them based on race.
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