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Media Slammed For Not Calling Kroger Shooting ‘Hate Crime’ When Gunman Targeted Black People

New reports revealed the shooter first tried to enter an all-Black church before going to the grocery store.

New reports revealed the white man who killed two Black people at a Kroger grocery store in Kentucky first tried to enter a Black church just minutes before the shooting. However, many media outlets have not gone as far as to call the attack an act of terror or a hate crime.

On Wednesday, police arrested Gregory A. Bush, 51, for the fatal shooting of Maurice Stallard, 69, and Vickie Jones, 67, who were both shot in the grocery store and the parking lot.

"Our hearts break for the families of the those we lost to the tragedy at the Jeffersontown Kroger," Russell M. Coleman, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, said in a statement Friday. "The murders are not being taken lightly by the United States government. Federal investigators are supporting local law enforcement and examining this matter from the perspective of federal criminal law, which includes potential civil rights violations such as hate crimes."

Police Chief Sam Rogers recently said surveillance video showed that 10 to 15 minutes before the grocery store shooting, Bush tried to enter the First Baptist Church in Jeffersontown. A church member, who was sitting in the parking lot at the time, saw Bush banging and pulling the door to get inside, reported CNN.

"To think that an hour and a half earlier, we had 70 people in the church," church administrator Billy Williams told the affiliate. "But by the time he came through, all doors were locked, and there were probably eight or 10 still in the building."

After leaving the church, Bush went to Kroger and opened fire.

During the shooting, Bush told a white man who was crouched down, “whites don’t shoot whites.”

With the news of the attempt to enter a Black church, the killing of two Black people, and Bush’s clear racial prejudice, many people can’t believe hate crime charges haven’t immediately been filed. Others blame the media for not calling this an act of terror.

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