Just as some 300 congregants fell to reverent silence when the pastor asked them to bow their heads in prayer, an explosion tore through the metal shell and wooden frame of the First Assembly of God Church here Sunday morning, sending 33 worshipers to the hospital, two of them with serious injuries.
Most of the victims were part of a tight-knit group of teenage members of the Pentecostal congregation who typically sit together during services. They were seated Sunday near the powerful explosion, which occurred about 45 minutes into the 10 a.m. services and threw debris almost 100 yards away.
Although federal officials leading the investigation would not indicate what they suspect caused the blast, Illinois State Police Director Terry Gainer said by telephone that preliminary findings show “it appears to be a man-made explosion at this point.” Cautioning that investigators had not ruled out other scenarios, such as the malfunctioning of an industrial air conditioning unit next to the church, Gainer said a bomb is a “distinct possibility.”
Still, Gainer said his office is deferring to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to determine a cause–and the ATF said it likely would wait until at least Monday before settling on one. “It could have been caused by a bomb, it could have been accidental,” said Jerry Singer, a Bureau spokesman.
Church officials and law enforcement authorities said they knew of no reason the church, which dates to the 1930s at the same site, would be a target for violence. The pastor said the church had not received any threats.
As federal investigators descended on the blue-collar town of 34,000 residents, 117 miles south of Chicago near the Indiana border, congregants marveled that injuries were not more severe.
“As the smoke cleared and (I) started looking through the debris, there were teenagers really spread out all over the floor,” Rev. Dennis Rogers, the pastor, said. “Head wounds, body wounds, leg wounds. It looked like a war zone.”
As a miasma of dust filled the room after the explosion, Rogers asked worshipers to remain calm and leave through a back exit into the parking lot. There, as fire and rescue personnel searched the building, Rogers led a prayer thanking God no one died.
None of the injuries appeared life-threatening, hospital officials said.
The report was heard 7 miles away and blew out the glass windows of residences 200 yards from the church, local residents said. The explosion exposed insulation and the church’s wood frame, and it launched flying debris that injured dozens.
The two victims with the most severe injuries, Elizabeth Russian, 15, and Nikki Brehm Lewis, 14, both of the Danville area, were listed Sunday night in serious but stable condition with deep cuts to their heads at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, hospital spokeswoman Gretchen Robbins said.
Richard Christopher Woods, 17, was treated and released from Carle with facial injuries. Woods said he was in the second row of seats about 25 feet away from the explosion, which blew a 20-foot by 20-foot hole into the 15-year-old structure.
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“It was just like a big gust of wind and that’s really all I felt,” he said as he left the hospital, his face swollen and still suffering from a headache. After hearing screaming and yelling, “then people started coming in and grabbing people and taking them out.”
Steven Haas, 17, who was admitted to Provena United Samaritans Medical Center in Danville, lost part of an ear and may suffer permanent hearing loss, Jami Proctor, his aunt, said. Six others were admitted to Provena United with cuts and were listed in either fair or stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The remainder of the injured were treated and released.
Rogers would not speculate on what caused the ruin to his growing church of 500 members, one of more than 300 Assemblies of God congregations in the state.
“I told my people not to ask why, so I won’t ask,” Rogers said as he stood in the lobby of Carle Foundation Hospital. “I have told my people to control their anger, so I will try as well.”
Linda Emmons, a congregation member whose 10-year-old son suffered “a gash in his leg the size of my fist,” said he turned to her after the blast.
“He said, `Mom what happened? I hurt. . . . You’re not going to be mad at me if I swear?’ ” she recalled. “I said, `Not today.’ “
Their ears still ringing from the deafening crack of the blast, church members vowed to hold regularly scheduled services Wednesday.
Congregation members said there were no propane tanks near the church building. And Molly Hall, spokeswoman for the Illinois Power Co., the church’s utility company, said the blast was not caused by a natural gas or electrical explosion.
The ATF’s Singer said the blast likely occurred just outside the building, between the exterior wall and the air conditioning unit. Part of that unit was blown about 200 feet away.
“That shows a considerable amount of force,” he said.
The blast occurred 8 miles from and almost five months after a bombing at a United Methodist church in Oakwood, Ill., that killed 46-year-old Brian Plawer, a superintendent at the Kickapoo State Park.
Federal investigators have not closed that case, though a law enforcement spokesman said Sunday that the Oakwood bombing was an “isolated incident.”
Though the statement could be construed as an effort to dampen any speculation linking the two explosions, such thoughts already were brewing.
The two explosions are “a strange and very discomforting coincidence,” said state Sen. Judith Myers, a Republican whose district includes Danville.
Though investigators were not confirming the suspicions, several members of the Assemblies of God Church said they believe the explosion was deliberate. But though some congregants seemed certain what caused the blast, no one could say why.
“None of us can think of one thing,” said Ramona Logan, the church’s pianist, who was preparing to play “Standing on the Promises of God.”
The Danville Assemblies of God church would be an unlikely target for violence, members said. Lloyd Logan, principal of the church school, said the congregation was “God-fearing” and had no troubled members. Myers said the growing evangelical church was “mainstream” and not known to advocate extreme positions.
The injured teens were known for being active within the church. Three of them, including Russian, were planning a missionary trip to El Salvador next month, church officials said.
“They were all good kids. They don’t sit in the back of the church and talk like I used to do,” said Darrell Haas, the church treasurer and grandfather of one of the victims.