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Nashville church shooting victim: 'I just laid quietly and played like I was dead'

Nate Rau
The Tennessean
A Nashville Police bomb squad member investigates a car outside Burnette Chapel Church of Christ where shots were fired Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, in Antioch, Tenn.

Catherine Dickerson stood in the parking lot of Burnette Chapel Church of Christ at the end of Sunday morning's service, casually talking with the church minister’s wife and another women when she heard a popping sound behind her.

“I looked to my right and didn’t see anything,” Dickerson told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee in an interview on Sunday evening. “Then another gunshot went off and someone said, ‘He’s got a gun!’”

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Burnette Chapel Church of Christ shooting victim Catherine Dickerson. Photo used with permission

Police say the shooter was 25-year-old Emanuel Samson, a former parishioner at the church.

“He was in black and had a black mask with white little markings on it,” Dickerson said. “He had the gun straight ahead of him, holding it with both hands. I saw one lady and she was going down.”

Dickerson darted for the church doors when she was shot, the bullet passing through her left thigh.

Dickerson, who has been attending church there for about six months, landed on her back in the doorway of the church, she said. Around her, people were screaming.

“I got up close to the wall so if somebody came in they would probably walk past me, and put my purse over my face so I couldn’t be seen,” Dickerson said. “I just laid quietly and played like I was dead.”

More:Antioch church shooting: What we know now

Dickerson said the masked gunman walked by, and the shooting continued.

“He never said anything,” Dickerson said.

Police say Samson was in a violent scuffle with Caleb Engle, 22, a longtime church member.

“I was under my purse not watching so I didn’t know what was going on,” Dickerson said. “I was just waiting for him to leave and to be able to call the cops. So I didn’t see the scuffle.”

After police arrived on the scene and apprehended Samson, who had been shot, Dickerson said she saw people lending aide to church minister Joey Spann.

Dickerson said she was taken to TriStar Skyline Medical Center, which disappointed her at first because she wanted to be near the other gunshot victims, most of whom were sent to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

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Once there, she learned that Engle was taken to the same hospital and she was able to check on him.

Evidence markers are on the ground in the parking lot after multiple shots were fired at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017, in Antioch, Tenn.

Asked what she thinks might have happened if Engle didn’t intervene, Dickerson said she couldn’t say. About 60 people go to church there on Sunday, she said.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know how many bullets the suspect had."

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and nrau@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.

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