CLOSE TO HOME
For reasons I’ll get to shortly, I sat on this story for a few days. But I’m going to take a brief break from what I usually do around here and ask you to pray hard for the folks in this Episcopal parish:
Brenda Brewington, administrative assistant of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Ellicott City, Maryland, was found shot dead inside the church office May 3. The Rev. Dr. Mary-Marguerite Kohn, the parish’s co-rector, was also found wounded and remains in critical condition.
The presumed assailant appeared to have killed himself near the church.
A custodian came upon Brewington, 59, and Kohn, 62, about 5:20 p.m., Sherry Llewellyn, a spokeswoman for the Howard County Police Department, said during a media briefing outside the church. The custodian called 911, she said.
SWAT members later found an unidentified man dead with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a police department press release said. A gun was located near the body, according to the police.
Rev. Kohn has since died.
The reason I was reluctant to deal with this story is that something eerily similar happened around here ten years ago.
A 64-year-old church secretary, known for her compassion and understanding in dealing with the homeless, died after apparently being attacked by a homeless man in the hallway outside her office
December 19 at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St. Louis.
Carol Bledsoe, who had worked at the cathedral for nearly four years, reportedly went into the hallway shortly after lunchtime to investigate a disturbance and was stabbed in the neck. She stumbled into the office of a coworker, who called for help while another coworker administered first aid. She was taken to a nearby hospital by fire department medics, where she died a short time later.
Police soon arrested a 45-year-old man outside the cathedral whom one officer described as having ‘a mental condition.’ The man was known to cathedral workers, although he was not among the regular group of homeless men who frequently participate in a morning breakfast program operated by the cathedral. That breakfast program was open as usual the next morning.
Bledsoe was known by her coworkers as someone who did not tolerate foul language or rude behavior from the homeless men and women who came to her office, but she never failed to go the extra step to make sure their needs were met and was patient in listening to their stories. She was on a first-name basis with many of the men and women, who called her ‘Miss Carol.’ As police taped off the Bishop Tuttle Memorial Building, housing the cathedral and diocesan offices, word spread among the homeless men gathering outside that ‘Miss Carol had been stabbed.’ A number of the men were visibly upset.
Here’s the hook. I’ve known a lot of people who are no longer with us for various reasons. Accidents, disease, etc. But Carol Bledsoe was the first person I ever knew who was murdered.
She was the mother of a good friend of mine back at my old Episcopal parish and who I also considered her a friend. One time, I drove out to a hospital to visit her son who’d basically blown out a knee stepping off a curb.
Don’t ask because I don’t know.
Carol and I got there at the same time and she saw me walking in. “Where are you going?” she asked me, slightly surprised.
“Same place you are, I imagine,” I replied.
I couldn’t park within a quarter mile of Emmanuel for her memorial service. And I stood through the whole thing, that’s how packed the place was. I don’t know if we’ll get to see this or not but that’s how you know that you’ve lived a great life.
Brenda Brewington, administrative assistant of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Ellicott City, Maryland, was found shot dead inside the church office May 3. The Rev. Dr. Mary-Marguerite Kohn, the parish’s co-rector, was also found wounded and remains in critical condition.
The presumed assailant appeared to have killed himself near the church.
A custodian came upon Brewington, 59, and Kohn, 62, about 5:20 p.m., Sherry Llewellyn, a spokeswoman for the Howard County Police Department, said during a media briefing outside the church. The custodian called 911, she said.
SWAT members later found an unidentified man dead with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a police department press release said. A gun was located near the body, according to the police.
Rev. Kohn has since died.
The reason I was reluctant to deal with this story is that something eerily similar happened around here ten years ago.
A 64-year-old church secretary, known for her compassion and understanding in dealing with the homeless, died after apparently being attacked by a homeless man in the hallway outside her office
December 19 at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown St. Louis.
Carol Bledsoe, who had worked at the cathedral for nearly four years, reportedly went into the hallway shortly after lunchtime to investigate a disturbance and was stabbed in the neck. She stumbled into the office of a coworker, who called for help while another coworker administered first aid. She was taken to a nearby hospital by fire department medics, where she died a short time later.
Police soon arrested a 45-year-old man outside the cathedral whom one officer described as having ‘a mental condition.’ The man was known to cathedral workers, although he was not among the regular group of homeless men who frequently participate in a morning breakfast program operated by the cathedral. That breakfast program was open as usual the next morning.
Bledsoe was known by her coworkers as someone who did not tolerate foul language or rude behavior from the homeless men and women who came to her office, but she never failed to go the extra step to make sure their needs were met and was patient in listening to their stories. She was on a first-name basis with many of the men and women, who called her ‘Miss Carol.’ As police taped off the Bishop Tuttle Memorial Building, housing the cathedral and diocesan offices, word spread among the homeless men gathering outside that ‘Miss Carol had been stabbed.’ A number of the men were visibly upset.
Here’s the hook. I’ve known a lot of people who are no longer with us for various reasons. Accidents, disease, etc. But Carol Bledsoe was the first person I ever knew who was murdered.
She was the mother of a good friend of mine back at my old Episcopal parish and who I also considered her a friend. One time, I drove out to a hospital to visit her son who’d basically blown out a knee stepping off a curb.
Don’t ask because I don’t know.
Carol and I got there at the same time and she saw me walking in. “Where are you going?” she asked me, slightly surprised.
“Same place you are, I imagine,” I replied.
I couldn’t park within a quarter mile of Emmanuel for her memorial service. And I stood through the whole thing, that’s how packed the place was. I don’t know if we’ll get to see this or not but that’s how you know that you’ve lived a great life.
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