Knoxville Shooter’s Manifesto Made Public

Jim Burroway

February 14th, 2009

Jim David Adkisson, the gunman who opened fire in a Knoxville, Tennessee church killing two and injuring seven others, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder. He will spend the rest of his life behind bars for his July 27, 2008 rampage at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that Adkisson left a hand-written manifesto in his pickup truck in which, according to police, he expressed “hatred of the liberal movement, Liberals in general, as well as gays.” Despite public calls for police to release the text of the letter, police kept it private as the investigation continued.

After last week’s sentencing hearing, Adkisson released the four-page letter to the Knoxville News Sentinel which posted it on its web site earlier this week. In the letter, which Adkisson intended to be a suicide note, he made clear that he hated all things “liberal”:

Liberals are a pest like termites. Millions of them. Each little bite contributes to the downfall of this great nation. The only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is kill them in the streets. Kill them where they gather.

I’d like to encourage other like minded people to do what I’ve done. If life ain’t worth living anymore don’t just kill yourself. do [sic] something for your Country before you go. Go Kill Liberals.

Tell the cop that killed me I said, “Thanks. I needed that!”

Adkisson was also clear that he considered his actions a hate crime. He made a special point in explaining that by emphasizing his hatred of “damn left-wing Liberals.” He also described his rampage as a “political act.” Matthew David Chamberlain, a 47-year-old nonviolent sex offender who shared a cell with Adkisson, told the News Sentinel, “He said if he got out (of prison), he’d do it again.”

In Adkisson’s letter, he listed all of the news networks that he believes are destroying America. His list included all major national broadcasters. Fox News was noticeably absent from the list. Adkisson also said he wanted to kill all Democrats in the House and Senate, as well as everyone listed in Bernard Goldberg’s book, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (And Al Franken Is #37). But since he judged them to be inaccessible, he decided to go after “the foot soldiers” attending the Unitarian Universalist church that Sunday instead:

Don’t let the word church mislead you. This isn’t a church, it’s a cult. They don’t even believe in God. They worship the God of Secularism. These sick people aren’t Liberals, they’re Ultra-Liberals. This is a collection of sicko’s, weirdo’s + homo’s. [sic] The UU church is the Fountainhead, the veritable wellspring of anti-American organizations like Moveon.org, Code Pink, and other un-American groups.

Those people are absolute Hypocrits. [sic] They embrace every pervert that comes down the pike, but if they find out your [sic] a conservative, they absolutely Hate you.

… I’d like someone to do an exposé on this church, it’s a den of un-American vipers. They call themselves “Progressive.” How is a white woman having a niger [sic] baby progressive? How is a man sticking his dick up another man’s ass progressive?

Reading this screed reminds me of some of the more entertaining comments we’ve collected on this web site, as well as some of the more colorful emails I’ve received on a few occasions. Yes, they are out there, and they’re not as uncommon as you might think. Consider just about any comment left on the WorldNetDaily web site, or even this comment on the Sentinel’s web site:

Ya know, with the exception of killing people, which is wrong under any circumstance, even liberals, he’s pretty much right. This so-called liberal movement will destroy the American way of life. Liberals hate America and are extremely dangerous to our freedoms and liberty. Mark my words, check back here in a couple years, if this Obama-Nation has not yet utterly destroyed itself, so I can say I told you so.

Here is the full text of Jim David Adkisson’s manifesto:

To whom it may concern!

I guess you’re wondering why I did this. Well let me explain in detail.

Over the years I’ve had some good jobs, but I always got layed [sic] off. Now I’m 58 years old + I can’t get a decent job. I’m told I’m “overqualified”, which is a code word for “too damned old.” Like I’m expected to age gracefully into poverty. No thanks! I’m done!

I’ve always wondered why I was put on the earth. For years I thought I was put here to die as cannon fodder in Viet Nam but somehow cheated the devil out of it. Lately I’ve been feeling helpless in our war on Terrorism. But I realized I could engage the terrorists allies here in America. The best allies they’ve got.

The Democrates! [sic] The democrates [sic] have done everything they can do to tie our hands in this War on Terror. They’re all a bunch of traitors. They want America to loose this war for reasons I can not understand. It makes me soooo mad!

In a parallel train of thought; It saddens me to think back on all the bad things that Liberalism has done to this country. The worst problem America faces today is Liberalism. They have dumbed down education, they have defined deviancy down. Liberals have attacked every major institution that made America great. From the Boy Scouts to the military; from education to Religion. The Major News outlets have become the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party. Liberals are evil, they embrace the tenants of Karl Marx, they’re Marxist, socialist, communists.

The Unitarian Universalist Church.

Don’t let the word church mislead you. This isn’t a church, it’s a cult. They don’t even believe in God. They worship the God of Secularism. These sick people aren’t Liberals, they’re Ultra-Liberals. This is a collection of sicko’s, weirdo’s + homo’s. [sic] The UU church is the Fountainhead, the veritable wellspring of anti-American organizations like Moveon.org, Code Pink, and other un-American groups.

Those people are absolute Hypocrits. [sic] They embrace every pervert that comes down the pike, but if they find out your [sic] a conservative, they absolutely Hate you.

I can’t, for the life of me, understand why these people would embrace Marxism like they do.

I’d like someone to do an exposé on this church, it’s a den of un-American vipers. They call themselves “Progressive.” How is a white woman having a niger [sic] baby progressive? How is a man sticking his dick up another man’s ass progressive?

It’s an abomination.

It takes a warped mind to hate American.

It makes me so angry! I can’t live with it any more!

The environmental Nuts have to be stopped.

Know this If Nothing Else.

I This was a hate crime!
I hate the damn left-wing Liberals. There is a vast left-wing conspiracy in this country + these liberals are working together to attack every decent + honorable institution in the Nation, trying to turn this country into a communist state. Shame on them.

II This was a Political Protest!
I’m protesting the liberal Supreme Court Justices for give [sic] the terrorists at GITMO constitutional rights. I’m protesting the major News outlets, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS for being the propaganda wing of the Democrat Party. It’s criminal what they’re getting away with. They’re traitors! They must be stopped. I’m protesting the DNC running such a radical leftist candidate. Osama Hussein Obama, yo mama. No experience, no brains, a joke. Dangerous to America. Hell, he looks like Curious George!

III This was a Symbolic Killing!
Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate + House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg’s book. I’d like to kill everyone in the Mainstream Media. But I knew these people were inaccesible [sic] to me. I couldn’t get to the generals + high ranking officers of the Marxist movement so I went after the foot soldiers, the chickenshit liberals that vote in these traitorous people. Some one [sic] had to get the ball rolling. I volunteered. I hope others do the same, it’s the only way we can rid America of this cancer this pestilence! [sic]

In Conclusion:

No one gets out of this world alive so I’ve chosen to skip the bad years of poverty. I know my life is going downhill fast from here. The future looks bleak. I’m sick + tired of being sick + tired. I’m absolutely fed up!

So I thought I’d do something good for this Country. Kill Democrats ’till the cops kill me. If decent patriotic Americans could vote 3 times in every election we couldn’t stem this tide of liberalism that’s destroying America.

Liberals are a pest like termites. Millions of them. Each little bite contributes to the downfall of this great nation. The only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is kill them in the streets. Kill them where they gather.

I’d like to encourage other like minded people to do what I’ve done. If life ain’t worth living anymore don’t just kill yourself. do [sic] something for your Country before you go. Go Kill Liberals.

Tell the cop that killed me I said, “Thanks. I needed that!”

I have no next of kin, no living relatives. If you would take my sorry carcass to the body farm, or donate it to science, or just throw me in the Tennessee River.

Sincerely
Jim David Adkisson

John Ozed

February 14th, 2009

I really hope I’m wrong, but I doubt if he’s the only one out there.

Patrick

February 14th, 2009

Why does it seem they always have trouble spelling words correctly?

Jason D

February 14th, 2009

Oh, so Ann Coulter finally decided to put her words into action, but what an unattractive disguise.

Oh, that’s not Ann Coulter? I could’ve sworn by the writing….

Regan DuCasse

February 14th, 2009

I waited and watched to see if the liberal bashers whose material and broadcast words this man took so seriously would even MENTION the shootings or display sympathy for the victims.
Nope, nothing.
Not even a word on the killing of Christians by those so convinced that this country and liberals hate Christians!

I wouldn’t have thought a PROMPT would be necessary. I wouldn’t have thought summoning the very people who CONSTANTLY bash liberals and Democrats but can’t bring themselves to have a conversation on how little difference there has been between Republicans and conservatives of late on fiscal and social policies.

TownHall, Washington Times and WorldNetDaily on a regular basis, bash liberals.
But ALSO bash homosexuals, in particular. Not a week goes by when TH finds some extreme leap of nonsense in which to connect gay people.

Perhaps the wildfires in Australia as an act of a sexually frustrated gay arsonist will be next?
Any bets?

If we blamed ALL heterosexuals or made them responsible for his actions, then they’d protest at the unfairness of doing so, and assert that they don’t CONDONE the actions of this person.

However, few of them can even NAME a person or something from someone gay that went to such violent extremes connected DIRECTLY to political beliefs by prominent gay media or gay people themselves.

As it happens, they continue to assume ALL gay people are to be held accountable not only for singular and anecdotal acts by gay people that may or may not negatively impact a straight person, but gay people are also held accountable for NOT supporting polygamy and incest and so on, but they firmly believe gay people condone pedophilia.

I’m not sure if I’m making sense here.
Perhaps it’s because it’s so hard not to tear out your hair at how idiotic it all is, as well as dangerous.

In that shooting was a spectacular act of heroism. One of the members of the church put himself between the shooter and other potential victims, giving them time to get to cover.

We mentioned it in the gay media an on blogs, but the conservative media did not.

Figures.

Regan DuCasse

February 14th, 2009

Hmmm…

With the exception of Malcom Mohammed and the LIR shooter, Curtis or something, and the Virginia Institute killings, our country has had VERY few mass shooters of color.
But the trend is changing…

I’m not sure if this matters. But from school shootings to major mass killings that involved over 20 victims, the rampages have involved mostly white males.
Certainly all of them have been males.

And their rage was prompted in some part by relationships or lack of them with females or some kind of outsized issue with their masculinity, like being taunted with an anti gay epithet.

Whatever the case, it’s incidents like this, or most street and domestic violence that makes the assertion that gay people are the most threatening to children or other living things patently ludicrous.

Surely, there have been serial killers who have been gay, or identified as such after the fact, but to hear the anti gay tell it, there are FAR more mass and serial killers who have been.

Well, MY crime data knows when that’s bullshit.
My other data also knows that gay men and lesbians serve FAR more time, than heterosexuals with equivalent offenses.
Are paroled less often.
Are executed and are given harsher sentences also.

Commiserate with the incarceration, punishment and parole ratios of blacks.

Also, gay and lesbian VICTIMS have less time spent on their cases, less incarceration time for their violators as well as less reporting of a crime because of fear of disclosure of their orientation.

Some states have improved their records, somewhat.
But a perp knows he’ll have less likelihood of punishment if he uses the ‘gay panic defense’, and they will be LESS inhibited to commit the crime in the first place.

But I’m sure you all know about that part.

Just another way that gay people have similar civil and human rights violations that blacks have known in this land of equality and the free.

Atkinsson’s attitude of entitlement might have been tempered quite a bit had he not been indoctrinated to believe that men like himself are NOT God’s gift to the rest of us.
And he’s not owed a thing because he thinks so.

Dave

February 15th, 2009

Why is Jason Dabrowski’s libel of Ann Coulter allowed to remain?

Is it because no one here thinks she’d sue even if she noticed?

Scott P.

February 15th, 2009

Libel? What libel? Just calling her ugly? Guess what? The First Amendment gives us the freedom to insult public figures. Now, as an example, and only as an example, don’t get your panties in a bunch (again not a libel) if he’d said she had sex with German Shepherds, THAT would be a libel, because that would not be an opinion, but a statement that implies an unprovable fact on his part, UNLESS he had pictures. Just saying he finds her ugly is NOT!

Mere opinion, and the truth, can never be considered libelous.

Woozle

February 15th, 2009

Why is Jason Dabrowski’s libel of Ann Coulter allowed to remain?

As Scott P. said, what libel?

I take JD’s statement to mean “wow, that sounds exactly like the sort of thing Ann Coulter would write”. Are you saying that it isn’t? Or are you reading some other claim into it? (He didn’t call her ugly… unless you mean her thoughts.)

Houndentenor

February 16th, 2009

What Libel? Ann isn’t stupid enough to sue anyone. The dirt on her that would come out in a trial (drug use, affairs with married men, etc) would destroy her standing with the right wing nutjobs. Besides I think the whole thing is an act.

Back to the main point, there are a lot more guys like this one out there. Turn on any conservative talk radio show. Yes, I know we liberals were all nuts after the 2004 election but we weren’t armed. It’s a very different thing to organize a protest and to show up on a shooting spree.

Timothy Kincaid

February 16th, 2009

Houndentenor,

Unless you can present evidence of Ann Coulter using drugs and having affairs with married men, do not make such accusations at this site.

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