5. Melanie Crow Smith
Samson encountered his first victim, Melanie Crow Smith, 39, in the parking lot outside the church. He shot her dead as she walked to her car.
Her 2 children, Breanna Smith, 19, and RJ Smith, 12, remembered their mother as a loving homemaker who taught them to pray and to love others.
“I still pray, I’ll still pray for the rest of my life, knowing that my mom is still with me and that she’s here,” RJ told NewsChannel5 on Sunday night.
He remembers his mom as “sassy, but intelligent.”
“She’s always been a worry, too worried, you know, a mother. Cooking, cleaning all the time, cleaning her butt off, nagging, but that’s because she cares,” he said.
Breanna said she often went to church with her mom. But this past Sunday she attended a different church.
The teenager said she doesn’t want to know about the alleged shooter. She will pray for him. She’s mad at him, but that can’t change what he did. So she will try and move forward.