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Abbey gunman's motives unknown

Conception Abbey
Conception Abbey: "It's one of the most serene, peaceful places you can imagine," said a highway patrolman.  


CONCEPTION JUNCTION, Missouri (CNN) -- Officials at a Roman Catholic abbey in rural northwest Missouri said they don't know why a 71-year-old man opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle, killing two monks and wounding two others.

Police said Lloyd Robert Jeffress apparently committed suicide after killing two monks and wounding two others. They did not release any information about a possible motive for the shootings.

Gregory Polan, the abbot, or head, of Conception Abbey, said he knew of no relationship between the man and his victims. One of the slain monks had worked at the abbey since World War II.

Dan Madden, director of communications at the abbey, said authorities showed the gunman's driver's license to almost all employees and workers at the abbey and none recognized him.

Madden said police closed off the abbey's monastery, where the shootings occurred, and the basilica, where the gunman was found dead after the shootings.

Police were limiting traffic into the monastery and it was closed to reporters. Madden said police were also investigating a suspicious package found in the gunman's vehicle at the abbey.

A statement from the Nodaway County Police said the state highway patrol "searched a residence in Kearney, Missouri, believed to belong to the gunman" and found nothing to indicate a possible motive.

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Gregory Polan, the abbot of Conception Abbey, describes the incident (June 10)

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The monks who died in the shooting were identified as Brother Damian Larson, 64, and Father Philip Schuster, 85.

Schuster had been at the abbey since 1943 and was a porter who greeted guests and handled communications. Larson was well-known in the area as a weather forecaster on the abbey's Web site at www.conceptionabbey.org. His forecasts also appeared in local newspapers.

The sheriff's office statement said both injured monks were in stable condition.

Father Norbert Schappler, 76, was at Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, and Father Kenneth Reichert, 68, was at St. Francis Hospital in Maryville. Schappler is the art director at the abbey's printery and a chaplain in the infirmary. Reichter is a prior, or assistant, to the abbot.

Polan said he was in his office when he heard what sounded like a window falling and crashing, followed by two shots. After he went into the hallway, he heard three more shots.

He and other monks drifted into the hallway, but once they determined shots had been fired, they went back to their rooms. Polan said he called police.

"It was really fortunate that there were not more people around there at that time," Polan said.

"There's a lot of shock, sadness. ... Benedictine monasteries are always to be places of welcome," he said. "Both of those monks were welcoming guests this past weekend.

"I keep asking myself why and how did this happen," Polan said.

Capt. Chris Ricks of the Highway Patrol described the locale as "a real isolated area, halfway between Albany and Maryville on U.S. 136."

"It's a beautiful place. You drive through all these cornfields and all of a sudden you see in front of you, sitting on a hill, this beautiful abbey."

The 30-acre campus, part of a 960-acre tract owned by the abbey, is about 90 miles north of Kansas City. It includes several large red brick buildings, several of them interconnected. The focus of the abbey is a seminary for priests run by Benedictine monks.

"It's one of the most serene, peaceful places you can imagine," Ricks said.

About 45 monks live at the abbey, said Becky Summers, spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. She said most students are probably on recess, although some may be taking summer classes.

"It is still unreal for me. This is quiet Conception, Missouri. This is a monastery. These things don't happen in monasteries," Polan said.



 
 
 
 







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