An American missionary was murdered shot and killed Thursday morning at a Christian center that provides medical care and aid to Palestinian refugees in southern Lebanon. Bonnie Penner, 31, was shot three times in the head as she opened the Unity Center, which houses a chapel and a clinic, police said. It was believed to be the first targeted killing of a U.S. citizen in Lebanon in more than a decade. A colleague found Penner in a pool of blood, police said. Police officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it appeared she was shot as she opened the door. The gunman used a 7 mm pistol, police said. Police had no suspects, and it was not clear whether the killing was politically motivated. The center's director, the Rev. Sami Dagher, said there had been no threats before the killing. The clinic provides medical care and help to local people and Palestinian refugees in camp nearby. "Bonnie died because she loved the people of Sidon," he told reporters outside the center. "May God forgive them," Dagher said of the attackers.
So, somebody harmless, who was doing something nice for the locals is bumped off. It wasn't clear that the killing was politically motivated, but just by coincidence...
Muslim clerics have criticized the Unity Center in the past, accusing it of preaching Christianity and trying to indoctrinate Sidon's youth.
"You can't do that! Only Islamists can do that!" |