A white teenage girl is in custody after allegedly plotting to kill Christians at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Gainesville, Georgia.
The plot was reported when students attending Gainesville High School noticed detailed notes about how one of the students planned to carry out a violent attack on the church and intended to massacre the mostly black congregation. The students informed school administrators, who subsequently contacted the police.
While authorities did not reveal details about the student’s plot, they did confirm that the intention was motivated by race. “Our investigation indicated the church was targeted by the juvenile based on the racial demographic of the church members,” said Gainesville Police chief Jay Parrish on Thursday. Parrish also expressed gratitude to the students, school faculty, and Gainesville police for stopping a “potentially horrific incident.”
The suspect was charged with criminal attempt to commit murder and is currently being held in a youth detention center. “It just grieves my spirit on a number of different levels, one that the intentions of this young person were so calculated to do great harm against people who just simply had no knowledge of such a plot,” said Rev. Rose Johnson Mackey, who directs a Gainesville civil rights organization.
