On July 27, 2008, a children’s musical at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville was shattered by a shooting. Linda Kraeger, 61, a retired English professor who had moved to the area with her husband Duane, was attending the performance with friends when a gunman opened fire. She was critically wounded, taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, and died that evening.

The attacker entered the church with a shotgun and struck multiple congregants; fellow member Greg McKendry was killed at the scene while shielding others. Seven additional people were wounded before church members subdued the shooter and police took him into custody. Authorities described the attack as motivated by a hatred of liberals and labeled it a hate crime. The church later dedicated its library in Kraeger’s memory.