Three killed in Conception Abbey shooting, gunman at large

CONCEPTION, Mo. (AP) -- Three people, including two monks, were killed and two others were injured after a gunman opened fire at the Conception Abbey Benedictine monastery in northwest Missouri, authorities said.

One of the dead victims was found in a chapel with two weapons, an AK-47 and a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle, Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said. It was not immediately clear where the two monks were found.

The extent of the injuries of the injured victims was not known, Espey said. One of them was in surgery late Monday morning at St. Francis Hospital in Maryville.

A search for the shooter was ongoing.

"Apparently a gunman -- or gunmen, we're not sure at this time -- entered the facility and opened fire," Missouri State Highway Patrol Lt. Tim Hull said. "They're still looking. We're unaware if the suspects are still on the ground or on the scene."

The Conception Abbey is a Benedictine monastery and seminary. The seminary college on campus is the largest priestly training center in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph led by Bishop Raymond J. Boland. The complex also has a basilica and publishing operation.

The college lists a staff of 19 priests, eight brothers, one sister, six lay professors and a student body of 97.

The abbey is located on a 30-acre rural campus about 90 miles north of Kansas City.

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.

"There's a lot of helicopters and things around now. We heard he was in the monastery connected to the church. ... It's just not something you think about happening especially in a religious institution."