[from an article by Jane Greer at uuworld.org, posted 1 Aug 2008]


[John] Bohstedt has been a member of TVUUC for almost 30 years, joining shortly after he and his family moved to Knoxville. He has served the church in various capacities as board member, member of the ministerial relations committee, chair of the long-range planning committee, and congregation president. Cast as the character Daddy Warbucks in the childrenÕs musical, he was seated at the back of the sanctuary waiting for his cue when he saw a man enter the sanctuary with a guitar case. Below he describes the sequence of events:

Bohstedt: In the second scene of ÒAnnie,Ó Annie escapes from the orphanage and is out there with her flashlight in the darkness and is about to back into Miss Hannigan [a character in the play]. The background music is suspenseful and ominous. You have a suspended sense of reality because of the theater. IÕm Daddy Warbucks, and IÕve got 15 minutes before I go on.

This guy comes in whom IÕve never seen before and puts down a little bag and his guitar case. I thought, ÒThere are no guitars in this musical.Ó The bag looked like it could be a photo bag of sorts, and I thought he could be a photographer. Then he opened the guitar case and took out a gun. At that point I didnÕt know what was going on.

Then he stepped into the sanctuary and fired a shot into the sanctuary. At first many of us thought it was some new sound effect or element that had been added to the suspense. Then he fired the second shot and people started screaming.

You literally have to decide, ÒWhat am I seeing?Ó Then you know this is the real thing. When he fired the second shot I rushed at him.

My goal was to get the gun and get it pointed up toward the ceiling. Then at least that would stop the shooting. When I got to him, I was coming at him from the side. I didnÕt perceive myself to be in physical danger. There were three or four other guys rushing at him, too. He was down on the floor on his face with his arms pinned in two or three seconds.

I wasnÕt at all surprised that there were lots of us on top of him. If IÕd had time to think, I would have said that that was what was going to happen.

After weÕd pinned him down, I ran into the coatroom and got a thin nylon jacket and tied it around his ankles so that in case he did slip away, at least he wouldnÕt be able to run. Then, I spent 20 minutes trying to keep Greg McKendry with us.