On a Sunday morning in Atlanta, Georgia, the familiar hymns at Ebenezer Baptist Church were tragically silenced by gunfire. It was June 30, 1974, and Deacon Edward Boykin, a 69-year-old Black man, was attending the service as he had for thirty-nine years. That day, a 23-year-old man from Ohio named Marcus Wayne Chenault, Jr. rose from the pews, brandishing two revolvers.
As Alberta Williams King, the mother of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., played 'The Lord's Prayer' on the organ, Chenault began firing indiscriminately into the congregation, fatally wounding both her and Boykin. Another woman was also injured in the chaotic attack. Parishioners subdued Chenault after he had emptied his weapons.
Boykin, who had worked for 32 years as a chauffeur for the family of the former publisher of the Atlanta Constitution, was a respected member of the church community. He and his wife, Lois, had no children.
The assailant, Marcus Wayne Chenault, was quickly taken into custody and charged with two counts of murder. During questioning, he claimed to have been on a mission from God to kill the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., who was present at the service. Chenault stated that he shot Mrs. King because she was closer to him. His lawyers attempted an insanity defense, arguing that he was on a mission to kill all Christians.
Despite the defense's claims, Chenault was convicted and sentenced to death. However, the King family, who opposed the death penalty, advocated for his sentence to be reduced to life in prison. Chenault later died in prison from a stroke on August 22, 1995, at the age of 44, taking the full motive for his violent outburst to his grave.
