Police: Man yelled 'liars' before killing 3 in church
Pastor Dale Morgan
Police: Man yelled 'liars' before killing 3 in church*
* Story Highlights
* NEW: Eiken Elam Saimon, 52, pleaded not guilty Monday
* NEW: He is charged with assault and three counts of first-degree
murder
* Sheriff says gunman was suspect in Saturday assault on 14-year-old
girl
* An assistant pastor and two worshippers were killed, police chief says
NEOSHO, Missouri (CNN) -- A man with a machine pistol stormed a
southwestern Missouri church where his relatives were praying, shouting
"liars, liars" as he opened fire and killed three people, police said
Monday.
Eiken Elam Saimon, 52, has been charged with three counts of
first-degree murder, a prosecutor said.
Police identified the gunman as Eiken Elam Saimon, 52.
He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of
first-degree assault, one count of armed criminal action and one count
of felonious restraint for holding the congregation hostage, said Newton
County Prosecutor Scott Watson.
A fifth count of assault is pending, Watson said.
Watson told The Associated Press Saimon targeted church elders. "It
appears that the shots that were fired were not at random," he said.
Saimon entered a not guilty plea during a brief arraignment Monday in
Newton County Circuit Court. The judge set his bail at $1 million,
reduced from the original $5 million, and set a hearing for September
18, the AP reported.
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said Saimon is being held in an
isolation cell under heavy guard.
Saimon shouted "liars, liars, you're all liars" before opening fire with
a semiautomatic machine pistol commonly known as a Tech-9, Police Chief
David McCracken said.
When police arrived, Saimon had surrounded himself with 30 to 40
hostages in the sanctuary and "he was holding a female hostage at
gunpoint," the chief said.
Witnesses told police that Saimon held a gun to one man's head and asked
if anyone in the church was willing to trade their life for the man's,
an investigator said. After no one stepped forward, the gunman shot the
hostage, he said.
Five people were wounded in the Sunday afternoon attack at the church in
Neosho, about 120 miles northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Killed in the shooting were Kernal Rehobson, 43, Intenson Rehobson, 44,
and Jesse Ikoshia, 53, Watson said. They were not friends or relatives
of Saimon, Watson told the AP.
Prosecutor Watson also said Saimon also is a suspect in the alleged
sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl Saturday. The girl is a relative of
Saimon's, although authorities did not explain how the two were related,
AP reported.
Wounded were Jim Handy, Melihna Tarra, Dahnny Jack and Handy Kendey,
Watson said, adding that his office is awaiting the name of a fifth
person who was wounded.
The wounded were transported to area hospitals, at least one of them by
helicopter.
One of them required surgery, and two others were still in the hospital
Monday, McCracken said. All are in fair condition and are expected to
recover, the chief said.
Police received a report about 1:54 p.m. (2:54 p.m. ET) that someone was
shooting inside the 100-year-old First Congregational Church.
A group of Micronesians was holding a service at the time, McCracken
said. Saimon is Micronesian.
Micronesia is a series of islands in the western Pacific Ocean.
Saimon had three guns, including the 9 mm semiautomatic Tech-9 and a
small-caliber handgun, McCracken said.
He ordered the children in the church to leave without their parents,
McCracken said. The kids were all accounted for and were not harmed, he
said.
Saimon is married and has a family, Copeland said.
The shooter was holding as many as 50 people hostage inside the church
when officers arrived, authorities said. Police apprehended Saimon
without incident after a hostage negotiator spoke with him for five or
10 minutes, McCracken said.
"He made the decision that it was not his day to die," the chief said
Monday. "It was hard to tell which way he was going to go until he
dropped the weapon."