VA to honor worker who aided pastor hurt in church shooting

By

The Associated Press

Law enforcement continues their investigation around the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ on September 24, 2017 in Antioch, Tenn. One person was killed and seven were wounded when a gunman opened fire in the church. (Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will honor one of its medical workers who helped tend to a minister’s injuries from a Tennessee church shooting in September.

A department news release says the ceremony for Tennessee Valley Healthcare System medical technologist Minerva Rosa-Gonzalez will be held Nov. 20 at the Nashville VA Medical Center.

The department says Rosa-Gonzalez used her body to put pressure on minister Joey Spann’s wounds to stop the bleeding in Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Nashville.

State and federal veterans affairs officials will be on hand to commemorate Rosa-Gonzalez’s actions.

Authorities have charged 25-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson with fatally shooting a woman and wounding six others at the chapel on Sept. 24.