Advertisement

'One Of Those Rare Individuals': Annapolis Church Remembers Capital Gazette Shooting Victim

04:03
Download Audio
Resume
Crime scene tape surrounds a building housing The Capital Gazette newspaper's offices, Friday, June 29, 2018, in Annapolis, Md. A man armed with smoke grenades and a shotgun attacked journalists in the building Thursday, killing several people before police quickly stormed the building and arrested him, police and witnesses said. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
Crime scene tape surrounds a building housing The Capital Gazette newspaper's offices, Friday, June 29, 2018, in Annapolis, Md. A man armed with smoke grenades and a shotgun attacked journalists in the building Thursday, killing several people before police quickly stormed the building and arrested him, police and witnesses said. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Among the five people killed in a shooting Thursday at The Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, was Wendi Winters, a reporter, mother of four and longtime youth mentor at her church.

Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with the Rev. John Crestwell, associate minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Annapolis where Winters was a member.

"Wendi is just one of those rare individuals that doesn't come along often," he says. "She was quirky in her own way, always had a wild story and a bit of gossip — she knew something about everything in Annapolis — and just loved kids."

Crestwell says when he shared the news with his 23-year-old son, "he broke down immediately ... because she had meant so much to him and so many kids. It's really a huge loss."

The church will hold a vigil for Winters on Friday afternoon prior to a community-wide interfaith vigil for each of the five victims at Westfield Annapolis Mall parking lot on Friday night.

"There's obviously grief, but there's also anger. We know this is another case of senseless violence and the violent culture that we live in," Crestwell says. "But I will celebrate her life, talk about how she lived into our seven principles, the first being the inherent worth and dignity of all people, and how she bent over backwards to be a helping hand for everyone."

This segment aired on June 29, 2018.

Related:

Advertisement

More from Here & Now

Listen Live
Close