‘Thwarted diabolical plot': Man arrested minutes before mass shooting at Northern Virginia church, police say

https://lemmy.world/post/5825367

‘Thwarted diabolical plot': Man arrested minutes before mass shooting at Northern Virginia church, police say - Lemmy.world

Investigators said they were able to stop the potential massacre at Park Valley Church in Haymarket thanks to someone who saw troubling posts on Instagram and called police Authorities arrested a man who they say was minutes away from carrying out a mass shooting at a church in Northern Virginia on Sunday morning. Rui Jiang, 35, was taken into custody with a loaded gun and extra ammo at Park Valley Church in Haymarket. Authorities said he was on a mission to kill. “This was a thwarted diabolical plot to kill churchgoers in Haymarket, Virginia … and local law enforcement stopped it,” Chief Kevin Davis of the Fairfax County Police Department said. “Minutes. Minutes. The congregation was making their way into the church. He was in the vestibule of the church about to enter,” Davis said. “So, minutes or seconds away.”

“Quite frankly, we’ve just been thanking God. You know, God’s been so good to us, and he protected us,

Never fails to amaze me how someone can completely disregard the hard work and sacrifice of other human beings and instead praise an imaginary skyguy.

Same imaginary skygod who put them in harms way to begin with. Never did understand.

No, no: that’s the other skyguy. We’re like the kids in a bitter divorce, constantly bounced between a good parent and a bad parent, with no actual agency. Except to thank good skyguy, otherwise they might not protect us from bad skyguy next time.

Skyguy whims sometimes feel arbitrary and capricious, but there’s divine or diabolical intent, which means it’s way better than being lost to the randomness of chaotic but determinate natural forces. How terrifying would the world be if stuff just happened for no reason?

Watch out buddy, you're getting frighteningly close to actual empathy. Get any closer and you'll no longer be able to say you "can't understand religious people" for imaginary internet points and the approval of your peers.