The Persecuted Church

Deaths in Yemen

A single Yemeni gunman entered the Baptist hospital compound in Jibla, Yemen, on Dec. 20, 2002, and shot four American hospital workers, killing three and injuring the fourth.

Hospital administrator William E. Koehn, purchasing agent Kathleen A. Gariety and physician Martha C. Myers were killed and pharmacist Donald W. Caswell was injured in the early morning attack.

The Americans were involved in a meeting at the beginning of the work day at the hospital when the gunman burst into the room and opened fire.

Koehn, Gariety and Myers were killed immediately. The gunman reportedly then moved to another room, where he wounded Caswell. He also aimed his gun at a Filipino hospital employee, but the weapon did not fire.
A 35-year-old Yemeni man surrendered to hospital security personnel and was taken into custody.

" People here loved these people so much," Rock said. "Yesterday Bill gave sacks of wheat and sugar to widows and divorced women in city. He's been doing that almost every month with relief donations we receive."

" The people here who love us are decimated even more than we are, because they don't see the big picture," she said. "But the Bible says 'Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the blood of his saints.' The church is built on the blood of the martyrs, and any of those three people would have gladly given their lives for that."

Adapted from an article by Mark Kelly.