On Sunday, congregants of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs gathered for their first service one week after 26 people were gunned down inside the church. CNN was on-site with a glimpse inside the church, which has been turned into a memorial, and to inform viewers that only 25 people died in the massacre... plus an unborn child.
A Texas church has held its first service since a gunman opened fire, killing 25 people and an unborn child one week ago https://t.co/GcPUdLK7cz pic.twitter.com/N5dDIm7asZ
— CNN (@CNN) November 12, 2017
Dakin Andone wrote in his report:
Pastor Frank Pomeroy has delivered many sermons, but this week's was different.
He nearly broke down addressing Sunday's service, the first since a gunman entered the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs last week and opened fire on Pomeroy's parishioners. The shooter killed 25 people and an unborn child -- including Pomeroy's 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle.
The congregation met under a tent on a baseball field blocks from the church, but people were allowed inside the church building, which has been stripped of all carpeting and pews and painted over in a fresh coat of white paint. Chairs were set up in the locations where the victims’ bodies were found. A red rose sat in each chair, except the chair marked “baby Holcombe,” who was honored with a pink rose. Psalm 100 was posted in the sanctuary: “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations." It was a passage that was supposed to be read during services last week until gunfire broke out.
On Twitter, online, and on-air (with Chris Cuomo), CNN scripts repeated “25 people dead and an unborn child," which left everyone scratching their heads at the miscalculation:
TruthRevolt reached out to CNN's Andone to see why he separated the death toll in this way in his article, but we didn't receive a reply at publishing time.