A man from Baltimore, Maryland reportedly pledged to stand outside his church to guard it daily after the murder of a 69-year-old congregant he considers as his "mother."
The Christian Headlines reported that I.T. Professional Kimkur Lee has sworn to stand guard at the Southern Baptist Church of East Baltimore after Evelyn Player was found dead from stab wounds last Tuesday, November 16. Player is said to be an employee of the church and came in early on the day she died to let in the contractors renovating the building. Player was then found in the bathroom of her work area an hour later, already dead.
The 53-year-old Lee, who attends the Southern Baptist Church, said in an interview with Fox 45 that he considers Player as "his church mother" for she was the kind of person who attends to people's needs with all her best.
"For somebody to come into the church and take a life, that's a very evil person, a very evil person," Lee said.
"Anything that you needed, Ms. Player was that. If you needed her to put her foot in your behind, she could do that for you, but most of the time, she wouldn't do that. She would talk to you, love on you, and let you know that it was going to be alright," he added, recalling the deceased.
Lee condemned Player's murder as done by someone "evil" as it was executed inside a church. He expressed doubt in Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott's plans to address the heinous crime and decided he'll just act on the matter personally- he said that he'll literally stand guard outside the church to prevent future crimes like that from happening again. He pointed out that this is his way of honoring Player through protecting others.
"If it's anything like all the rest of the mayor's plans to stop the crime, there's didn't work, so what's he doing different," Lee shared.
"I can't and won't sit back and let this happen to anybody else in this church," he stressed.
Lee was actually referring to a statement made by Scott in reaction to Player's death. The mayor called the crime as an "unspeakable, cowardly murder," and urged the public to turn in the person who did the crime regardless of who the person may be.
"This is not OK. None of us should be OK. Her family is four generations strong at Southern...Solving this unfathomable, unthinkable cowardly act is now priority number one for the Baltimore Police Department," Scott remarked.
"I don't care if this person is your son, your husband, your boyfriend, your daughter, your uncle, your aunt. You should turn this person in because if we're OK with someone this cowardly murdering someone that could be your grandmother, that could be someone else's grandmother, then what are we willing to stand up for?" he added.
The Baltimore Police, through its Commissioner Michael Harrison, disclosed to local reporters that Player was attacked inside the bathroom of her work area and was found dead around 6:50 a.m. by another church employee who called for the police.
Player's daughter, Alethea Finch, is deeply hurt at the loss of her mother who she described as a devoted church member. She expressed bewilderment that anyone would even want to hurt her.
"Who would want to hurt my mother? How could someone hurt someone in such a sacred place? My heart's broken into a million pieces. I don't understand why this happened," Finch revealed.
As of this time, the perpetrator is still at large and unknown although the Baltimore police disclosed that they are currently investigating a person of interest in line with Player's death. A $100,000 reward was offered by Governor Larry Hogan for anyone who could provide information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator of this heinous crime.
