Officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have vowed to work to keep their missionaries safe after one missionary was murdered in Chesapeake and another was injured.
The statement from the Salt Lake City-based church was issued Jan. 4, two days after Elder Morgan W. Young was killed and Elder Joshua D. Heidbrink was seriously injured as they were making door-to-door visits.
"We assure those currently serving missions or who are contemplating missionary service that the church will continue to make every effort to safeguard the health and safety of missionaries throughout the world," Mormon church officials stated.
The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported that a suspect has been charged in the shootings. James R. Boughton, 19, was arrested late Jan. 4 in Chesapeake and charged with first-degree murder, malicious wounding and attempted malicious wounding.
Investigators believe Young, 21, and Heidbrink, 19, may have been shot because they were witnesses to a crime, the newspaper said. Young was close to completing his two-year mission and had planned to return home to Bountiful, Utah, in March. Heidbrink, a missionary for two months, was expected to fly home with his parents to recover in Greeley, Colo.
Religion News Service