The assailant who killed two people at a small community church was on the hunt for the mother of his three children and declared, ‘someone is gonna have to die’ before starting his shooting spree.
Identified by witnesses as Guy House, the shooter stormed into the basement of the Richmond Road Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, on Sunday afternoon.
He confronted Beverly Gumm, 72, along with her daughter, Star Rutherford, while they were preparing lunch for the churchgoers, as Rutherford recounted to the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Rutherford said House asked for one of her sisters – the mother of his three children – and when she and her mother replied that the woman he was looking for was not there, House uttered, ‘Well someone is gonna have to die then’ as he opened fire.
Gumm, a mother-of-eight, quickly ducked to avoid the first shot, but the second hit her in the chest – killing her at the scene, Rutherford said.
House then went outside and shot and killed Rutherford’s other sister, Christina Combs, 32.
He also injured Gumm’s husband, and the longtime pastor of the church, Jerry Gumm, as well as Combs’ husband, Randy Combs, before he was shot and killed by three police officers.
The two victims were rushed to the University of Kentucky hospital, where they remained in critical condition Sunday night.
Randy is now awake, while Jerry remains sedated from surgery, Rutherford wrote on Facebook.
Christina Combs, 32, and her mother, Beverly Gumm, 72, (pictured) were shot and killed while attending services at Richmond Road Baptist Church
Also critically injured was Combs’ husband, Randy, who is now awake at the hospital
The shooter, whom the victims’ family identified as Guy House, was shot and killed by police at the community church (pictured)
She and her siblings now remember their mother as a ‘faithful member of the church who loved God.’
Dasey ‘Patches’ Rutherford, another sister, noted that their mother’s ‘love language’ was feeding people – ‘homeless people, drug addicts, strangers.’
Rachael Barnes, a third sister, also said Combs was a mother-of-five who planned to graduate from nursing school in December.
‘They were both fantastic moms,’ she said, adding that her mother and sister were doing what they loved – ‘serving the Lord’ when they died.
The family is now raising money for Gumm’s funeral and to help Randy and his family.
It remains unclear what may have motivated House to target the mother of his children at the small, close-knit church.
But just moments before descending on the church, House was driving down Terminal Drive, outside Blue Grass Airport, when he was pulled over by a Kentucky State Trooper who was alerted about House’s vehicle from a license plate reader on a nearby traffic camera.
House then opened fire on the trooper at around 10.40am.
From there, police say the shooter carjacked a vehicle and fled 16 miles to the Baptist church, where he was shot and killed by pursuing cops.
The wounded deputy, meanwhile, was taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries but was in stable condition Sunday night, the Lexington Fire Department noted.
Homes also injured Gumm’s husband and the longtime pastor of the church
‘It looked routine,’ Larissa McLaughlin, who was at the airport dropping off a rental car with her husband, said of House’s interaction with the trooper. ‘He was outside talking to him through an open window.
‘And as we were driving, I heard “pop, pop” and I knew it was gunshots,’ she told Lex 18.
She said her husband then called 911 while she ran to the airport entrance seeking help.
‘I was trying to alert everyone at the airport and I just ran through screaming,’ McLaughlin recounted.
Witness Gena Roland also described how she was among the first at the scene of the gunman’s rampage ‘barely escaping a head-on crash from the shooter while he drove out of the airport the wrong way.’
‘The trooper was thankfully awake and coherent when the ambulance arrived, albeit in a lot of pain,’ she said.
‘It was intense. There were many good Samaritans that stopped and ran to the trooper. I think we had five of us down there before the cops and paramedics arrived on scene.’
Other locals wrote online that they saw dozens of police and other emergency vehicles rushing to the airport.
Police assess the scene after a shooting at Richmond Road Baptist Church
Law enforcement members respond to the trooper’s shooting on Terminal Drive near the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced the deaths of the two churchgoers shortly before a 4.30pm press conference identified them.
‘Please pray for everyone affected by these senseless acts of violence, and let’s give thanks for the swift response by the Lexington Police Department and Kentucky State Police,’ he said.
Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton also offered her prayers for the victims’ families.
‘Like so many communities across the country, today our community has experienced a mass shooting, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries. A state police trooper has also been injured,’ she said in a statement.
‘Our police have a strong partnership with state police. The agencies will work together to fully investigate this tragedy.’
