Florida Truck Driver Planned Mass Shooting At Memphis Church: FBI

Officials Discuss Florida Anti-Terrorism Raid

The FBI arrested a Florida man who allegedly planned to commit a mass shooting at a church in Memphis, Tennessee. Authorities apprehended 38-year-old Thomas Matthew McVicker in Indianapolis a few days before his planned attack.

Federal investigators were tipped off about McVicker's plan by one of his friends. She told FBI agents that he planned on "shooting a church up" while he was visiting Memphis and that he "intended to take his knife and slit the pastor's throat."

"I was thinking about shooting a church up, but I'm afraid how it will affect my family in the flesh after I'm gone," McVicker wrote in text messages to his friend. "So, I think I'm just gonna kill some people on the street and get away with it then kill myself."

She told the FBI that McVicker claimed "evil entities entered his body and are torturing him." He told her "they put spiritual snakes and spiders in my bed at night," and that he "can feel them crawling on me and under me."

The FBI interviewed McVicker's mother, who told the agents that her son is being treated for schizophrenia and has a history of cocaine and methamphetamine use.

Officials did not reveal the details of McVicker's arrest or why he was in Indianapolis. They also did not give a motive for his planned attack or whether he was targeting a specific church.

Photo: Getty Images


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