Authorities look for motive in monastery shootings

CONCEPTION, Mo. -- A 71-year-old man opened fire at a Roman Catholic abbey in rural Northwest Missouri, killing two monks and seriously wounding two others before committing suicide in an abbey chapel, authorities said.

The gunman was identified as Lloyd Robert Jeffress of Kearney, which is about 70 miles south of Conception Abbey. He opened fire at random in the halls around the abbey's business offices at about 8:40 a.m., said the Rev. Gregory Polan, abbot of the abbey.

Polan said he was shown the suspect's driver's license, but did not recognize him as an employee or as anyone with a connection to the abbey.

"We have no idea who this person is," said Rebecca Summers, spokeswoman for the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese. "There appears to be no explanation as to why this happened."

Monks barred themselves in their rooms when they realized they were hearing gunshots, Polan said.

Two monks were killed and two other monks were seriously wounded. Authorities later found the suspect dead, slumped over in a chapel pew. He had one self-inflicted gunshot wound to the temple. Authorities also found two weapons -- a Chinese-made replica of the AK-47 and a Ruger 22.-caliber rifle -- near the body. The wooden butt of the .22-caliber weapon had been removed to make it easier to handle, officials said.

The Rev. Philip Schuster, 85, and Brother Damian Larson, 64, were killed. Schuster was a greeter at the monastery's front door; Larson worked as a groundskeeper.

Witnesses reported that Jeffress parked his car around 8:35 a.m. and carried two boxes inside the abbey. He walked into the basilica, sat the two boxes on the table and pulled out the weapons, said Sgt. Sheldon Lyon of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

He then went into the monastery in an adjacent building and walked down the hallways until he met Larson, who he shot twice. A secretary in an office peered out and saw Jeffress point the firearm at Larson and escaped with another person, Lyon said.

As Jeffress continued walking up the hallway, the Rev. Kenneth Reichert, 68, and the Rev. Norbert Schappler, 73, peeked out of their room to see what had happened and were shot. Jeffress followed them into the room and again shot Schappler, who was hit in the groin and the leg. Schappler dragged himself to a phone and called 911, Lyon said.

Reichert, an assistant to Polan, was shot in the stomach and was in serious condition Monday night after surgery at St. Francis Hospital in Maryville. Schappler was in stable condition at Heartland Regional Medical Center. He oversees the abbey's dining room and works as a director at The Printery House, which produces Christian greeting cards and gifts.

The gunman then retraced his original route. On the way out, he tried to open the door of an occupied office, but it was locked, Lyon said. He then came across Schuster and shot him twice, at least once in the head.

Authorities later found Jeffress dead, slumped over in a chapel pew. He had pointed the Ruger at his head and fired, Lyon said.

Few clues found

Polan said the abbey had received no threatening letters or phone calls to hint that the attack was imminent. Authorities were seeking the suspect's daughter for information about a motive.

Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said officers had been sent to the suspect's home to look for clues. They also scoured Jeffress' car, but found little. A brown box in his car had raised suspicions earlier but turned out to contain a fishing reel and some instructions for using a shooting range, Espey said.

The suspect was dressed in blue jeans, a T-shirt and a blue baseball cap, Espey said.

"He looked like a normal, clean-cut person," he said. "But obviously he wasn't normal."

Conception Abbey is a Benedictine monastery, which operates Conception Seminary College. The college on the 30-acre campus is the largest priestly training center in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The complex also has a basilica, which was rededicated in 1999 following a massive renovation.

The college has a student body of 97. No students or faculty were on campus because the seminary had ended its academic year in mid-May.

Ronda Strueby, 39, a supervisor in the packaging department of the abbey's printing house, said all employees were evacuated about 9 a.m.

"One of the monks, Brother Jeremiah, said there's a man in the monastery with a gun, and we need everyone to evacuate," she said. "We were all told to go home. It's just not something you think about happening, especially in a religious institution."

Kept to himself

Jeffress lived in a senior citizens housing complex, where neighbors said he lived alone and mostly kept to himself.

"The name was out there on the mailbox, and I'm nosey, so I had to go out there and see" after he moved in about three years ago, said one neighbor, Velma Dagley. "If I hadn't, I would never have even known his name."

Housing secretary Jane Watson said Monday that Jeffress "seemed like a lonely-type fellow" but said he would come into her office to talk and recently had an extended conversation with her about his prostate problems.

Don Miller, the housing treasurer, described Jeffress as cordial and polite. He said he saw Jeffress going to his car Sunday evening.

"It was just like it always had been," Miller said. "He had a smile on his face and said, 'Hi, how are you?' And I said, 'Fine,' and that was really it."