Personal turmoil weighed on Nashville church shooting suspect Emanuel K. Samson

In 2012, Emanuel K. Samson greeted a Sunday morning with warm enthusiasm.

"Rise & shine," he wrote on Facebook in January of that year. "It's church time!"

It had become a typical refrain. For years, Samson wrote regularly of his Christian faith and his excitement about going to church.

At times, he offered to bring friends along so he could grow his church family.

But this Sunday, more than five years later, was different.

At 10:01 a.m., he sent a message to his employers at Crimson Security Service saying he would not be returning to work. Within an hour, investigators said, he arrived at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in a hail of gunfire.

Now, police say, the congregation he once called home has lost a member at his hands.

Samson, 25, left Melanie Crow to die in the parking lot after shooting her multiple times, police said. Inside, police and witnesses said, he sprayed the sanctuary with bullets, indiscriminately hitting six people and pistol whipping another.

Multiple interactions with police in months before the shooting

The portrait of a troubled man has emerged following revelations of a series of events in the months before that explosion of violence.

On Jan. 29, Samson's girlfriend told police in Murfreesboro that he punched and broke a TV during a fight. On Feb. 11, Samson told police the same woman had come to his apartment and pushed on the door when he asked her to leave.

► More: How the Nashville church shooting unfolded: A timeline

No charges were filed in either case.

On June 27, Samson threatened to kill himself in an alarming text message to his father. “... I have a gun to my head, have a nice F------ life,” he wrote.

But Nashville police officers found Samson to be fine when they located him at a Donelson Pike office for G4S, a private security firm.

Samson never worked for G4S — a spokeswoman there said he was not offered a position following a background check.

According to state records, Samson was licensed as an unarmed security guard from January 2014 to January 2016, but that license had expired. He was in a class last Friday trying to be re-certified, according to Nashville police.

Crimson Security's legal adviser said Samson had reported for training on his first day of work on Saturday. He was terminated after saying he would not work on Sunday.

"There was no incident or indication of any problem with Mr. Samson at any time during his shift," the adviser, Laural Hemenway, said in a statement.

Hemenway said Samson had begun the state mandated training that would allow him to renew his license.

Friends and family describe Samson simply: 'He was a good guy'

Samson's brushes with the law, and the bloody carnage at Burnette Chapel, stand in stark contrast to the man Samson's friends and family described on Monday. In interviews with the USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee, they talked about Samson's ambition, his spirituality and his desire to help people.

Justin Ford, a classmate from Smyrna High School, remembered Samson as a man with "a good head on his shoulders."

"Just don’t know what made him do this," Ford said. "He was a good guy.”

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► More:Who they are: Burnette Chapel Church of Christ shooting victims

Samson's aunt, Florence Koks, was still in a state of disbelief.

“He’s not the kind of kid that would do that,” said Koks, a sister of Samson’s father. “It kind of makes me speechless. It’s like a dream, and I don’t believe that he did it.”

Samson is a legal U.S. resident and came to America from Sudan in 1996. Koks said. Samson's parents brought him to the U.S. in hoping for a better life — one that Samson seemed to relish.

Koks remembered Samson leading her younger children in Bible study during visits to her home a couple years ago.

“His favorite book is the Bible,” she said. “Every time you talk to him, he always mentioned the word of God."

Koks said Samson was baptized at Burnette Chapel.

Church member Gloria Riches, 85, who did not attend the Sunday morning service, said Samson and three other men from Sudan were “very active” in the church’s vacation bible school before leaving for another church.

In Koks' most recent conversation with her nephew, about five months ago, she joked about his muscular physique — he had gotten involved with competitive weightlifting — and made plans to meet his girlfriend, who he said he wanted to marry.

"I wish if he was struggling for some reason, he came out to talk about it," she said. "To see how we could get to help him."

On social media, multiple posts about faith and self-improvement

On social media, Samson regularly shared inspirational words and photos of himself at the gym.

Although he sent a series of cryptic messages on Sunday, including one that referenced "paroxysm," or a sudden attack, his most common themes revolved around self-improvement.

"Study yourself, test yourself, improve yourself," he wrote in January, along with a photo of him flexing in a mirror. "Let the master within reign."

In May 2010, around the time Samson graduated Smyrna High, he posted on Facebook saying he would "pursue to do what the Lord has called me to do.

"I'm aiming at psychologist," he said, "but also becoming a preacher."

Getahn Ward, Nate Rau, Holly Meyer, Mariah Timms, Nancy DeGennaro and Scott Broden contributed to this report.

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.