On a Sunday morning, June 30, 1974, the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, became the scene of a tragedy. Alberta Christine Williams King, a 69-year-old African American woman and the mother of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., was shot and killed as she played the organ for the morning service. Just as she finished playing 'The Lord's Prayer,' a young man stood up, shouted, 'You are serving a false god,' and opened fire.
The assailant, 23-year-old Marcus Wayne
Chenault, fired two handguns, striking and killing Mrs. King and a church deacon, Edward Boykin. A retired schoolteacher, Jimmie Mitchell, was also wounded in the attack. Mrs. King was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital but succumbed to a gunshot wound to the right side of her head. The peaceful Sunday service was shattered, leaving the congregation in a state of shock and disbelief.
Marcus Wayne Chenault, a man from Ohio, was quickly apprehended. He claimed that 'all Christians are my enemies' and that he believed Black ministers were a menace to Black people. His intended target was reportedly Martin Luther King Sr., but he shot Mrs. King because she was closer to him. Chenault had previously considered assassinating Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Chenault was put on trial, where his lawyers argued for an insanity defense. Despite this, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. The King family, who have long opposed the death penalty, did not support his execution. In 1995, his sentence was commuted to life in prison. Marcus Wayne Chenault died in prison on August 3, 1995, after suffering a stroke.
