Michael W. Mitchell -- the 20-year-old Christian fundie from Rockford, Illinois, who assaulted a gun-shop owner with a boxcutter in an attempted robbery of a gun with which he intended to "save" Terri Schiavo's life -- lives frighteningly close to me. A photo of the guy is
here.
I want to know more about this guy. I have friends who work at the local women's reproductive healthcare clinic. The clinic has been the target of arson. A priest crashed a truck into the clinic and hacked at it with an axe. I want to know which churches in Rockford are producing these fanatics.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Michael Mitchell "attends three or four churches." Which ones?
There are THOUSANDS of these religious extremists here in Rockford. They are multiplying like mice, in these homeschooling cells and in the local Assembly of God Christian Life Schools. These are the voters who keep Congressman Don Manzullo (R IL-16) in office.
Chicago Tribune and Rockford Register Star shed some light.
Here are just a few of the fundie churches here in Rockford that are pumping out these religious radicals:
Rockford First Assembly of God
Heartland
First Evangelical Free Church
Rockford Diocese/Respect Life Office
Mitchell "lives on Glenwood Ave." If he lives on Glennwood Ave., then he's not the "Michael Mitchell" listed in Google, AltaVista PeopleFinder and the local phone book. I do not see a "Randall" or "Pat" Mitchell listed.
ROCKFORD -- Russell Mitchell knows his son, Michael, as a deeply religious young man with a "hero complex." But it had always surfaced as a protective attitude toward his younger siblings or a willingness to assist elderly neighbors, he said.
Russell Mitchell said his son is something of a loner, often reads the Bible and attends services at three or four churches.
Michael Mitchell grew up in Rockford, where he and his three younger siblings were home-schooled, his father said. He previously worked for Quality Metal Finishing Co. in nearby Byron.
Michael Mitchell was a "quick learner," his father said, but he failed his GED exam a year ago and has since been working to pass it.
"He doesn't have many friends," Russell Mitchell said. "And the ones he had didn't stay around long because he'd start preaching to them."
ROCKFORD -- By his family's account, Michael Mitchell is a law-abiding, nonviolent, home-schooled "momma's boy" who lives life by the Bible and helps his mother with her paper route.
"Michael is a good kid. He just really got twisted around somehow," his father, Russell Mitchell, said from his driveway on Glenwood Avenue. "His heart wasn't connected to his brain. Because common sense wasn't in anything he did.
Michael Mitchell didn't tell family members he was going to take one of their three vans late Tuesday to head to Florida. Because her son had "never been away from home for more than a day," Pat Mitchell called Rockford police Wednesday morning to report a missing person.
Russell Mitchell, who works at Quality Metal Finishing Co., said the family can't afford an attorney, and he doesn't plan to go to Florida.
"We live paycheck to paycheck like a lot of people in this country," he said.
Pat Mitchell is a Rockford Register Star delivery driver, a job Michael had been helping her with for about a month.
"The point is, Michael was doing what he believes in his heart was right," Pat Mitchell said. "Even though I'm mad at him for doing it, I can't blame him. The fact that he couldn't get the gun pretty much shows you that he's not too dangerous."
Russell Mitchell pointed out what he considers some improvements that could make his 190-pound son "look at life a little differently," if or when he makes it back to Rockford.
"I think he needs to gain some weight, get a house, become a little bit more of a couch potato, get married and have kids.
"He's too hyper. He worries about a lot of things."
Can you help find which churches he attends?