Local churches boost security after shootings

In the wake of a church shooting in Tennessee, some local churches are stepping up security measures.
Installing surveillance cameras, creating an emergency plan, and adding security personnel are some of the ways churches on the Coast are boosting up safety after recent tragedies like Sunday’s shooting in Tennessee.
St. Peter’s by the sea Episcopal Church in Gulfport has recently added a security guard. Rector Patrick Sanders tells News 25 he’s sad that churches have had to increase security measures in establishments that are supposed to be designed to make all feel welcome. “The whole world is sacred so it doesn’t really matter that it happens in a church. It could happen anywhere and it’s still sad. You’d think that’s a place where people would not be hurting one another, but really we shouldn’t be hurting anybody on the planet. I think that the church has to continue to teach love in the way that it’s teaching it so that the world is full of less people willing to pull triggers.”
Authorities in Antioch say the 25-year-old shooting suspect was a former churchgoer.