Gunman reportedly enters church, makes horrific declaration before killing woman and her daughter, wounding pastor

On Sunday afternoon, Beverly Gumm and her daughter, Star Rutherford, were preparing lunch in the fellowship hall of Richmond Road Baptist Church in Lexington, Kentucky, when a man opened a door and asked for one of Rutherford’s sisters, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

They replied to the man that she wasn’t there, the paper said.

Patches Rutherford told the Herald-Leader that Gumm’s ‘love language’ was feeding people — ‘homeless people, drug addicts, strangers.’

“Well, someone is gonna have to die, then,” the man replied, Rutherford told the paper, adding that he then opened fire.

The Herald-Leader said Gumm, 72, was able to avoid the first shot, but the second shot hit her in the chest, killing her.

The paper said the man then went outside and fatally shot another of Rutherford’s sisters, Christina Combs, and wounded two men: Jerry Gumm — the church’s longtime pastor and the husband of Beverly Gumm — and Combs’ husband, Randy Combs.

Rutherford and two of her other sisters — Dasey “Patches” Rutherford and Rachel Barnes — described the atrocity in a Sunday-night interview, the paper said.

The three sisters identified the shooter as Guy House and said he was looking for the mother of his three children — another of their sisters, the Herald-Leader noted.

RELATED: Church security team member who reportedly shot gunman dead outside sanctuary recalls moment when ‘evil came to our door’

Lexington police said officers fatally shot the gunman, and the Fayette County Coroner’s Office identified House, 47, as the shooting suspect.

House had a history of run-ins with law enforcement, a Monday WDKY-TV video report said. In 2022 he was wanted for wanton endangerment of a police officer as well as vehicle theft, fleeing and evading, possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, and receiving stolen property, WDKY said.

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Just prior to the church shooting, House shot and wounded a Kentucky state trooper who pulled him over near the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, the Herald-Leader reported, adding that House fled, carjacked a vehicle, and drove to the church, where he shot the victims. Police said the trooper was in stable condition and was receiving medical treatment.

Star Rutherford told the Herald-Leader that she held her mother as she died. Beverly Gumm had eight children, her daughter told the paper, and was a “faithful member of the church who loved God.”

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Patches Rutherford told the Herald-Leader that Gumm’s “love language” was feeding people — “homeless people, drug addicts, strangers.”

Rachel Barnes added to the paper that her mother and sister were doing what they loved — “serving the Lord” — when their lives were taken from them.

Barnes also told the Herald-Leader that Christina Combs was a mother of five — including a 6-month-old baby — and anticipated graduating from nursing school in December.

“They were both fantastic moms,” Barnes added to the paper.

The sisters told the Herald-Leader that they aren’t aware of a possible motive for House’s actions.

Jerry Gumm and Randy Combs were in critical but stable condition Sunday night at the University of Kentucky hospital, Barnes noted to the paper.

“It’s awful what happened,” an employee from a local business near the church told Blaze News on Monday.

Blaze News late last month reported about a shooting at a church in suburban Detroit in which a church member ran over the accused shooter and a church security team member fatally shot the accused shooter. In a follow-up story, the security team member recalled the moment when “evil came to our door” and added, “I realize what happened yesterday, what my actions did. … I will reconcile with the Lord on a time for that. … I was protecting his people.”

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