Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

U.S.

Megachurch shooting suspect was committed following violence in Maryland

Associated Press
Published | Updated
Georgia Church Shooting

Oct. 24, 2012: This photo provided by the Fulton County Police Department shows shooting suspect Floyd Palmer. (Fulton County Police Department)

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. – Court records show that the man suspected of walking into a service at an Atlanta-area megachurch and gunning down a church volunteer leading a prayer was committed eight years ago to a psychiatric hospital after a violent incident in Maryland.

Police say former church worker, 51-year-old Floyd Palmer, entered a chapel at the Rev. Creflo Dollar's World Changers Church International just before 10 a.m. Wednesday and opened fire, killing 39-year-old church volunteer Greg McDowell. Palmer was arrested later in the day.

Court records show a man named Floyd Lester Palmer, born on the same day in 1960, was charged in Baltimore in 2001 with attempted murder, assault and handgun charges. He was committed to a psychiatric hospital in 2004 after pleading not criminally responsible to lesser charges. The records show he was released the next year.