Jail Calls: Suspect, Ex Laughed At Tennessee Church Shooting

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Jurors have heard jail calls in which a suspect charged with fatally shooting a woman and wounding seven people at a Nashville church in 2017 laughs about it with his then-girlfriend.

The October 2017 calls were replayed in court Thursday. A transcript shows 27-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson said he heard the victims saying “some funny (expletive)” when he was on the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ’s floor after being shot during a tussle with a churchgoer.

Samson says in one of the calls that he and his then-girlfriend are able to “look at the humor in any situation.”

The two brag about how good Samson looked in news coverage. Samson also says in the calls that he wanted to intimidate jail guards.

Prosecutors played the calls to rebut Samson’s previous testimony denying he made such comments.