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US church shooting murder charges | |
(about 12 hours later) | |
A man has been charged with murder in connection with a shooting in a church in the US state of Missouri which left three people dead and five injured. | |
Eiken Elam Saimon, 52, is also accused of assault and of holding the mostly Micronesian congregation hostage. | |
Those killed include two senior male members of the congregation and its leader, the Rev Kernal Rehobson. | |
Mr Saimon entered a not guilty plea at a brief court appearance on Monday. | |
Bail was set at $1m ($500,000) by a judge at Newton County Circuit Court. | |
Police have said that Mr Saimon, who is Micronesian, was not an active member of the congregation, which met in the First Congregational Church in the south-western town of Neosho. | |
Newton County Prosecutor Scott Watson said the suspect was not a friend or relation of any of those killed. The five people injured, all adults, are expected to recover. | |
Hostage claim | |
The shooting took place during a lunchtime church service attended by about 50 people on Sunday. | |
The alleged gunman was armed with two small-calibre handguns and a 9mm semi-automatic machine pistol, according to police. | |
He surrendered to police after about 10 minutes of negotiation, having allegedly briefly held at least half the congregation hostage. | |
A witness told the Associated Press news agency that the gunmen had ordered children and some members of his own family to leave before he started shooting. | |
Police chief Dave McCracken is quoted by the AP as saying: "This was a tragedy as far as those killed and injured are concerned but it could have been a lot worse." | |
About 200 Micronesians are said to live in the Neosho area. Thousands of people moved to the US from the Pacific islands of Micronesia in the 1990s to find work. |
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