Suspect in Kroger shooting tried to enter black church before attack

The gunman who fatally shot two people at a Kentucky Kroger supermarket this week may have intended to shoot up a predominately black church instead, according to a new report.

The new development supports the theory that the shooting may have been a racially motivated hate crime, WAVE 3 News reported.

Suspect Gregory Bush was captured on surveillance video trying to enter the First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown 15 minutes before the Kroger shooting, Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers told WAVE 3 News.

Had he arrived only an hour and 15 minutes earlier, he would have found 70 people getting ready to leave the church’s mid-week services, church administrator Billy Williams told the station.

Williams first spotted a man wearing similar clothing to Bush during a routine scan of the church’s security footage — and cops confirmed the attempted intruder was in fact Bush.

The FBI is investigating, though investigators would not speculate on a motive, according to the report.

But the son of a witness to the Kroger shooting told the outlet the suspect walked past his dad and said, “Whites don’t kill whites.”

The Louisville Urban League called for a hate crime investigation in a Facebook post.

“Because of the FB posts of the alleged perpetrator and the comments he made to a man in the parking lot of the grocery store, we thought it necessary to clearly state our desire and support for a hate crime investigation,” the statement said.

“We recognize that the alleged perpetrator may have had a mental inquest warrant filed previously, however his FB posts, his comments, and his visit to First Baptist Jeffersontown lead us to express our concern.”

The First Baptist congregation had been taking safety precautions after Dylann Roof opened fire, killing nine people — including a prominent pastor — at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC.

“We have several members that are armed during our midweek service which is what we passed yesterday,” Williams told the station. “And we have people that are armed on Sunday as well.”

via:  https://nypost.com/2018/10/26/suspect-in-kroger-shooting-tried-to-enter-black-church-before-attack/