|
#1
●
09-08-2010, 11:52 AM
|
|
Visalia Bishop Shot Dead by a Former Church Member
A man fatally shot Clay Sannar, 40, the lay bishop of the Visalia 2nd Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in his Tulare Avenue meetinghouse office on Aug. 29, 2010, then called police minutes later and was killed in an exchange of gunfire with officers, police said. Sannar was shot several times shortly after 12:30 p.m. while meeting with members between Sunday services. A stranger had asked to speak with a church leader and waited outside his door. Witnesses told church officials that Sannar shouted for the building to be cleared as he struggled with the gunman. Sannar, the general manager of a Visalia fertilizer company and the father of six sons, the youngest about six months old, died of his wounds. The caller reached dispatchers from a pay phone near the church, using the false name Zane Thomas. "I just shot the Mormon bishop over here on Tulare Ave," he said, then told the dispatcher, "Be prepared to throw down in mortal combat." Officers found the man about a mile away, near Divisadero and Burrel, police said. He opened fire and officers returned it, hitting him several times. He was taken to Kaweah Delta Medical Center, where he died. No officers were hurt. Investigators identified him as Kenneth James Ward, 47, of Modesto. Ward was a former member of the church who had once attended the Visalia congregation, police said, and had no known connection to Sannar. Ward's brother told reporters that his brother was mentally ill and had stayed angry for more than two decades over a dispute with a bishop in the 1980s. The recording is a 33-second 911 call released to news organizations after the shooting.
__________________ Support the site and our continued existance by upgrading to a Green Name |