An armed shooter entered and opened fire on a Nashville church on Sunday, September 24, injuring seven and killing one.

Kidega Samson, age 25, is currently charged with felony homicide for the murder of 39-year-old Melissa Crow Smith and the injury of many other civilians, one of whom is still in critical condition. 

According to CNN, Smith was shot while walking to her car after a service, dying at the scene. Samson then entered the church’s sanctuary armed with two pistols and began firing arbitrarily at the people in the pews.

Danny Carter, a witness of the shooting described the scene as “major chaos”, stating how he “didn’t see the shooter until he came through the door” and “hollered for people to get down” once realizing the man was armed. The shooter was then confronted by Robert Caleb Engle, 22, a church usher who was hailed as a hero for bravely stopping the chaos in the church. According to CNN, a struggle ensued, resulting in Engle being hit with Samson’s pistol and Samson mistakenly shooting himself. Engle then ran out to his car to retrieve a pistol, holding Samson at gunpoint until the police arrived at the scene.

Prayer vigils were held the day after for the victims and their families at two other Nashville churches. An enormous amount of people are still reaching out through various forms of social media to show their support for this tragedy.

According to the Associated Press, Samson was scheduled to appear in court the Wednesday after the shooting, but the hearing date is now moved to October 6th. Motives for the shooting are still unknown.

After asking some of the students of Wayne Hills for their input on the situation, freshman Miriam Goz commented that the situation was interesting and wanted to know more about what “the motive of the killer [was]”. Another freshman, Sakshi Lende asked if “the killer’s background and past” had “anything to do with his [actions]”.

The FBI is currently trying to find a motive for Samson’s actions. However, the police have uncovered some background information concerning his residency. Samson is Sudanese and has a legal residence in the U.S. Tennessee records indicate that he worked as an unarmed security guard from 2014 to 2016. In the past year, the police have encountered Samson on three separate occasions, once after his father reported suicide threats, and twice involving a dispute between him and his former girlfriend. Investigations are currently going on to determine whether or not any of these past incidents had to do with the shooting as Samson’s trial draws near.