Alvin Lee King III and the 1980 Daingerfield Church Shooting
Background
Alvin Lee King III was a former high school mathematics teacher who carried out a deadly attack inside the First Baptist Church in Daingerfield, Texas, on June 22, 1980. The shooting left five members of the congregation dead and ten others wounded. King also seriously wounded himself shortly after leaving the church.
King had moved to Daingerfield with his wife, Gretchen, and their two children during the 1960s. He taught mathematics at Daingerfield High School and was described as intelligent but eccentric. His unconventional behavior reportedly included refusing to sign a required statement acknowledging belief in God and allowing some students to determine borderline grades by drawing cards. He eventually left teaching and worked as a truck driver.
King accumulated numerous firearms and lived with his family on an isolated farm several miles outside Daingerfield. Years before the church shooting, he had accidentally shot and killed his father while examining a shotgun in Corpus Christi. Authorities ruled that death an accident.
Criminal Charge and Growing Resentment
In October 1979, King’s adult daughter went to authorities and accused him of sexually abusing her for approximately ten years. King was arrested and charged with incest. His trial was scheduled to begin on June 23, 1980, one day after the church massacre.
As the trial approached, King reportedly asked several Daingerfield residents to testify as character witnesses on his behalf. Some of those individuals were members of the First Baptist Church. They refused to support him in court. Investigators later believed that King’s anger over those refusals was an important factor in his decision to target the congregation.
The complete reasons for King’s actions were never firmly established. His preparations, weapon collection and behavior on the morning of the attack showed that the shooting was planned rather than spontaneous. Statements attributed to him during the assault also indicated that he viewed the attack as an act of war against people he believed had rejected or betrayed him.
Preparations on June 22, 1980
On the morning of Sunday, June 22, King ate breakfast with his wife at their rural home. He then overpowered Gretchen King and tied her to a kitchen chair with rope and telephone cord. He reportedly told her that he loved her and did not want to hurt her.
King dressed in military-style clothing, including Army fatigues, a helmet and protective flak jackets. He gathered a large collection of weapons and ammunition. His arsenal included a scoped Colt AR-15 SP1 semiautomatic rifle fitted with a bayonet, an M1 carbine with a bayonet, a .22-caliber revolver and a .38-caliber revolver. A pack carried by King contained approximately 250 rounds of ammunition.
He left the farmhouse in a small white automobile and drove approximately eight miles into Daingerfield. His destination was the First Baptist Church, where hundreds of people were attending the Sunday morning service.
The Attack at First Baptist Church
The congregation was singing the hymn “More About Jesus” when King entered the church through doors near the back of the sanctuary. Because the church had previously used staged demonstrations involving uniformed men and blank gunfire, some people initially believed King’s entrance was part of another presentation.
King stood at the rear of the crowded sanctuary carrying his rifle and wearing combat equipment. He shouted, “This is war,” and began firing the AR-15 toward the congregation. The gunfire struck worshippers seated throughout the sanctuary and caused immediate confusion and panic.
People dropped between pews, attempted to shield children and searched for exits as bullets traveled through the church. Five victims were killed, including seven-year-old Mary Regina “Gina” Linam. Ten additional members of the congregation were wounded. Contemporary reports sometimes described eleven injured people because King was included in the total after shooting himself.
The attack lasted only a short time, but King had enough weapons and ammunition to continue firing much longer. He eventually stopped shooting and left the church before police arrived. His reasons for ending the attack when he did remain uncertain.
Fatal Victims
- Mary Regina “Gina” Linam, age 7 — Killed on June 22, 1980, inside the First Baptist Church in Daingerfield, Morris County, Texas.
- Gene Gandy, age 49 — Killed on June 22, 1980, inside the First Baptist Church in Daingerfield, Texas.
- James Young “Red” McDaniel, age 53 — Killed on June 22, 1980, inside the First Baptist Church in Daingerfield, Texas.
- Thelma May Richardson, age 72 — Killed on June 22, 1980, inside the First Baptist Church in Daingerfield, Texas.
- Kenneth Alton Truitt, age 49 — Killed on June 22, 1980, inside the First Baptist Church in Daingerfield, Texas.
Wounded Congregants
Ten church members survived gunshot wounds. Published accounts have identified several of the injured, including Arthur Greaves, age 69; Robert Jack Dean, age 56; and Laverne McDaniel. Other survivors were treated for wounds of varying severity.
The number of injured is sometimes reported as eleven. That figure includes King, who shot himself after fleeing the church. The number of victims wounded inside the church was ten.
King’s Flight and Suicide Attempt
After leaving the church, King drove or traveled to a nearby fire station. There, he used the .22-caliber revolver to shoot himself in the forehead. The wound was serious but did not kill him.
Police took King into custody and transported him for medical treatment. When officers searched his farm, they found Gretchen King still tied to the kitchen chair. They also discovered documents and a cryptic handwritten note containing a reference to the biblical prophet Jeremiah and the phrase “King of Kings.”
Investigators found additional unusual material at the property, including correspondence showing that King had asked about becoming a citizen of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Embassy had rejected the request. Officers also found passports and records connected to money placed in a Swiss bank account. These discoveries suggested extensive planning, although they did not provide a clear explanation for the church massacre.
Charges and Competency Proceedings
King survived the self-inflicted gunshot and was charged with five counts of murder and ten counts of attempted murder. The earlier incest prosecution was overshadowed by the far more serious charges arising from the church attack.
Legal proceedings focused heavily on King’s mental condition and whether he was competent to stand trial. Evaluations and hearings delayed a final prosecution. Survivors and relatives of the victims were therefore left waiting for a trial that never occurred.
King remained confined in the Morris County Jail while his criminal cases were pending. He did not plead guilty or receive a sentence for the church killings.
Death of Alvin King
On January 19, 1982, Alvin Lee King III committed suicide in his jail cell. He hanged himself using strips torn from a towel. His death occurred approximately nineteen months after the Daingerfield church shooting and before he could be tried for the five murders.
Because King died before trial, no jury heard the complete evidence against him and no final judicial determination was made concerning his mental state or motive. The criminal charges ended with his death.
Impact on Daingerfield
The massacre devastated Daingerfield, a small East Texas community where many residents knew the victims, survivors and members of King’s family. The First Baptist Church became the site of one of the earliest widely documented mass shootings inside an American house of worship.
Church members had to bury five people while caring for the wounded and supporting traumatized survivors. The killing of Gina Linam, the seven-year-old victim, became an especially painful symbol of the attack’s indiscriminate nature.
The church continued operating after the massacre, and survivors repeatedly gathered to remember the victims. The shooting remained a defining event in Daingerfield’s history and later became an important case in discussions about violence in churches, emergency preparedness and the long-term effects of mass murder on small communities.
Legacy
Alvin King’s attack demonstrated how quickly an armed offender could turn a familiar and peaceful gathering place into a mass-casualty scene. His use of military-style clothing, multiple firearms, a semiautomatic rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition showed a high degree of preparation.
The Daingerfield church shooting has sometimes been described as one of the first modern mass shootings committed inside an American church. Although later attacks received greater national attention, the events of June 22, 1980, remained deeply significant to survivors and to the families of Gene Gandy, Gina Linam, James McDaniel, Thelma Richardson and Kenneth Truitt.
