Truck driver arrested before carrying out mass shooting at Memphis church

A man has been arrested by the FBI and charged with planning a mass shooting at a church in Memphis, Tenn.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that court filings detailed the arrest and charges against Thomas Matthew McVicker, 38, who the bureau says was planning to attack an unspecified church on Thursday.

McVicker was apprehended in Indianapolis and made “credible threats to conduct a mass shooting and suicide” to acquaintances who informed the FBI, according to affidavits filed on Monday.

A female friend of McVicker’s told law enforcement that he “intended to take his knife and slit the pastor’s throat” while also “shooting a church up,” the AP noted.

His friend told law enforcement that McVicker largely lives out of a semitruck, while his mother told police that he has abused methamphetamine and cocaine in the past and owns one handgun.

It wasn’t clear what charges McVicker, who reportedly has a history of mental illness, will face. No evidence of a prior criminal history other than traffic citations was immediately available, according to the AP.

McVicker’s employer confirmed to law enforcement that he had requested time off to travel to Memphis this week, though no other information on a motive or target was reportedly available.

In 2015, nine people were killed and others were injured in a shooting at a church in Charleston, S.C. The shooter, Dylann Roof, was later sentenced to death for the attack by a federal judge.

Source: The Hill