Fort Worth-area church shooter had history of arrests, violent behavior across country
The man who shot and killed two people inside a White Settlement church Sunday before he was fatally shot by a member of the church’s security team was identified Monday as Keith Thomas Kinnunen, 43, of River Oaks.
Church minister Britt Farmer said church members helped the man with food on several occasions, but the man became angry when they wouldn’t give him money, according to a tweet from Bobby Ross Jr., editor-in-chief of the Christian Chronicle. When reached by phone Monday, Farmer declined to comment on the tweet beyond saying Ross was a personal friend.
Kinnunen was not recognized by church members Sunday because he wore a disguise, Ross wrote on Twitter.
Mike Kloberdanz, a neighbor of a home that Kinnunen had listed as his address, said the FBI searched the house on Monday.
Another neighbor, Cynthia Frausto, said uniformed officers questioned her about who lived in the house, but she did not know who lived there.
Kinnunen was arrested in 2008 on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Fort Worth, according to court records.
In 2011, he was sentenced to 90 days in jail on a misdemeanor assault charge in Grady County, Oklahoma, near Tuttle, about 30 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, according to court records.
In 2012, he was charged with arson in the same town. Authorities said he “maliciously” set a cotton field on fire using tampons and lamp oil, according to the Express Star of Chickasha.
Kinnunen was later sentenced to a year in jail on a lesser charge of misdemeanor property damage.
That same year, his ex-wife filed a protective order against him in Grady County, according to court records. In the protective order, the woman wrote that Kinnunen was violent, paranoid and a religious fanatic, KXAS Channel 5 reported.
She said her 15-year-old son was terrified of his father and threatened her, according the television station.
In September 2016, he was arrested again in New Jersey when police found him with a shotgun near anoil refinery. He was taking photos of the oil tank field in Linden, according to a MyCentralNewJersey news.
Kinnunen told police he was homeless, traveling from Texas and taking photos of interesting sites.
He previously lived in Tucson, Arizona, according to public records.
The victims were identified as Richard White of River Oaks and Anton “Tony” Wallace of Fort Worth by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Star-Telegram reporter James Hartley contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 30, 2019 at 11:17 AM.
