‘Counting miracles': Fort Worth church marks 25 years after mass shooting

Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth is a place where people believe in miracles, even 25 years after a mass shooting.

“This is the south foyer," said Al Meredith, pastor emeritus at the church. “The shooter got out of the car here and with a cigarette was beginning to walk in, and our then-custodian, Jeff Laster, got up from the couch where he was sitting with his friends to ask him to put the cigarette out. He said, ‘Welcome to Wedgwood,’ before he could get out the words, he got shot twice, once in the arm and once in the stomach.”

Laster survived but was one of seven who were injured on Sept.15, 1999. The gunman fatally shot seven others before shooting himself.

"[The gunman] proceeded on, and at the couch, shot the first casualty, Sydney Browning. She was one of our singles, she was the lead of the children’s choir, and she was a star teacher of the year downtown," said Meredith, who was the senior pastor at the time.

Meredith arrived at the scene minutes after the shooting, having just come back from his own mother's funeral in Michigan.

“Looked like a beehive. Helicopters all around, kids—absolute chaos. Kids screaming, parents screaming, running," he recalled.

Still, he counts the blessings like those who could walk away.

“Had that pipe bomb landed in the crowd, I’d have had 50 funerals," Meredith said.

Miracles, like those who were injured, could have been fatalities.

“He shot her at point-blank range. But it entered her body right where her spine should have been. But because of the curve, it missed her spine," Meredith explained about one of his injured congregants' disabilities saving her life.

He also thanks God for the bleeding congregant who confronted the gunman.

“And the shooter said, ‘I’m going to kill you. He said, ‘Go ahead and shoot me. I know where I’m going when I die. Do you know where you’re going?” Meredith said, turning a massacre that could have lasted hours instead of minutes.

“He slumped in a chair at the back, turned the gun on himself, and it was over," Meredith said.

He said through this tragedy, some of the injured victims have found love amongst each other, getting married and bringing new life into this world.

Some, even through their death, were able to help others live, like Kristi Beckel.

“She donated parts of her body to over 20 different recipients: her skin, her eyes, her liver, her kidneys,” Meredith said.

Remember the miracles. It's why, to this day, the church keeps a bullet hole exposed in one of its doors.

“We’ve still got the bullet hole there just to remind us of what God spared us," Meredith said.

Meredith said there was still a lot of grief between those moments. He remembered every one of them, too.

"Shawn Brown…" he begins to say but pauses as tears well in his eyes as he remembers one of the victims. "Been married three years.”

That's why milestone services are still so important, like Sunday's marking 25 years since the tragedy.

“There’s some people still struggling. And this will be a tough, tough weekend for them," he said. “The families need to know we haven’t forgotten about their child or their husband.”

Meredith said the service is important, too, to remind everyone that the tragedy doesn't define their church. Sharing that grief is not only cathartic for them but, he hopes, leads to more miracles even beyond their church doors.

"The world out there doesn’t have a clue. Does not have a clue how to get through their sorrows. And we do. And so, what a wonderful opportunity to tell people," he said.