World Doesn’t End for Gunman but His Freedom Does
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GIBSONVILLE, N.C. — An armed man who barricaded himself in a house for more than 30 hours, convinced that the world was coming to an end as prophesied in a religious booklet, was overpowered by police and arrested today.
Ricky Odell Chavis, 27, fired shots at passing motorists and a police officer but no one was injured, police said.
“He was messed up real bad on religion,” said Chavis’ aunt, Joy Cassell.
She said two door-to-door missionaries for the Jehovah’s Witnesses sect apparently convinced her nephew that he needed to “get right” because Tuesday would be the day that God called true believers to heaven.
Edgar C. Whisenant predicted in his booklet “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988,” that Jesus would “rapture the church” and take the faithful to heaven by sunset Tuesday.
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