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Tennessee Church Shooting Suspect Is A Sudanese Bodybuilder

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Nashville Police have identified the suspect of a mass shooting at a church Sunday morning as 25-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson.

Samson is being charged with murder and multiple counts of attempted murder in the attack that killed one and left at least seven other people injured at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, a town just south of Nashville, Tenn.

Samson is a bodybuilder who attended high school in Tennessee and is originally from Khartoum, Sudan, according screenshots of the suspect’s Facebook page obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation before the account was taken down. Police say he is a legal resident and came to the U.S. in the 1990s.

“Everything you’ve ever doubted or made to be believe as false, is real. & vice versa, B” Samson wrote in his final post, around 11 a.m. CDT.

Emanuel K. Samson facebook page (Screenshot/Facebook)

Emanuel K. Samson facebook page (Screenshot/Facebook)

Samson posted photos of himself posing at a gym Sunday morning, with the caption “Unrestricted, paroxysm.”

One of the final posts from Emanuel K. Samson before he allegedly opened fire at a church in Antioch, Tennessee (Facebook screengrab)

One of the final posts from Emanuel K. Samson before he allegedly opened fire at a church in Antioch, Tennessee (Facebook screengrab)

A Nashville Police Department spokesman said the shooter entered the church after 11 a.m. CST wearing a neoprene ski mask. One woman was shot in the parking lot before the shooter entered the church and opened fire on about 42 people still inside.

One church member, 22-year-old Caleb Engle, confronted the shooter before being pistol whipped in the face. Engle then went to his car to retrieve a gun, which he has under a concealed carry license.

Engle returned to the church to confront the gunman again. The gunman shot himself in the face when the man returned, possibly by accident.

“He’s the hero here,” Nashville police chief Steve Anderson said. “He’s the person who stopped this madness in its tracks.”

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