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Bishop Matthews asks for prayers, action after D.C.-area mall shooting

January 25, 2014 (UMNS)

WASHINGTON (UMNS) — “A deep sense of tragedy hangs in the air,” Bishop Marcus Matthews of the Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional) Conference wrote as he called Jan. 25 for prayers in the wake of the shooting at the Mall in Columbia, a few miles from the Conference Mission Center. The shooter and two victims were reported killed.

“As I write, details of the shooting are still being released,” the bishop said. “…In addition to praying for the shooter, those killed and injured and all of their families, I find myself lamenting the lack of progress being made in our nation to end gun violence. There have been at least 10 shootings at public institutions this year alone. Just yesterday, at my alma mater South Carolina State University, a shooting claimed the life of a student.”

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