As members of the First Assembly of God were reeling this weekend from the horror of a near-deadly bombing during morning services, calm prevailed at a red-brick church just 7 miles away.
But the almost languid scene at Oakwood United Methodist turned to shock shortly after Pastor Bill Adams finished delivering the benediction to the small congregation. That was when a phone call came with news, whispered into his ear, that Adams repeated from the lectern.
“He asked for everyone’s attention to let us know that there had been an explosion at a Danville church, probably a bomb,” said Wanda Plawer. “If we didn’t have carpet in our sanctuary, I think you could have heard a pin drop.”
That is not only because of the natural shock at what federal authorities confirmed Monday was an act of terrorism that sent 33 Danville worshipers to the hospital, two of them with serious injuries. The Danville bombing also recalled painful memories in Oakwood.
“We were very grateful that no one in Danville was killed,” Plawer said.
That was not the case when a similar blast hit the Methodist congregation here. On a cold December afternoon less than five months earlier, Plawer’s husband, Brian Plawer, was killed by a bomb set outside the church’s doors.
After the news sunk in, Adams led an emotional prayer.
Authorities said Monday it did not appear the two bombings were related.
Beyond confirming it was a powerful man-made device that gashed a hole in the First Assembly of God church Sunday, hurling debris more than the length of a football field away, officials were mute Monday on who may have set the bomb and why.
“We have no suspects in custody at this time,” said Larry Thomason, spokesman for the Danville Police Department. Asked if there were any suspects at all, he replied, “There have been interviews, but I can’t say whether any (of those interviewed) were suspects.”
At a news conference earlier in the day, the church’s pastor, Dennis Rogers, said he did not believe there was a link between the bombing and crack houses the church had displaced years earlier as it expanded.
And authorities in Danville, a blue-collar city of 34,000 about 120 miles south of Chicago, appeared to discourage speculation linking the Danville bombing to the placement of the deadly Oakwood device on Dec. 30.
“Church bombings in this country are extremely rare,” acknowledged Jerry Singer, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. But he added: “Although we have two bombings that are close, we don’t see a connection.”
Law enforcement sources said there was a suspect in the Oakwood bombing, who has not been arrested, who did not appear to be linked to Sunday’s blast.
More Top Picks Samsung Hw K450 2 1 Channel
Adams said he is convinced the two bombings were not related.
“Maybe it’s because there is information investigators have shared with me that they have not shared with other people, but I’m not suspecting it’s done by the same person,” he said.
Still, the indiscriminate terror of the second bombing at a church in five months in Vermillion County has refocused attention on the still-unsolved Oakwood blast that claimed the life of a 46-year-old devoted father of three who was the popular superintendent of the Kickapoo State Park.
“It’s an odd coincidence that obviously makes people a little nervous,” said state Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville) who heard the tremendous sound of the Danville blast at his home a mile away.
Shortly after Adams had read the news on Sunday to his church, Wanda Plawer joined him and his wife and made the country drive to Danville to comfort the wounded there.
“I was thinking about their situation, thinking what I could do to help them having, in some sense, been in a similar situation,” Adams said Monday from his dorm room in Evanston where, four days a week, he is a student at the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.
When they arrived at the scene, two of those with the most serious injuries, Elizabeth Russian, 15, and Nikki Brehm Lewis, 14, had already been transferred to Carle Foundation Hospital in nearby Urbana. Their conditions were upgraded to good Monday, with deep cuts to their heads, a hospital nursing administrator said.
Two other teens, most of whom were part of a youth group sitting together near the bomb blast, were still at Provena United Samaritans Medical Center in Danville, where they were listed in fair condition Monday evening, a spokeswoman said.
Though the Oakwood bombing killed Brian Plawer instantly as he went outside to close a drafty door while at the church preparing the monthly bulletin, the Danville bombing was more powerful and caused more physical damage to that place of worship.
On Monday, church members returned to the site of the blast that caused a reported $30,000 in damage to the church, rending a 20-foot-by-20-foot hole in the west wall and exposing insulation and the building’s wooden frame.
Singer said federal investigators might be able to wrap up the main part of their investigation at the site by Tuesday and would continue to examine materials at the ATF lab in Rockville, Md.
Law enforcement authorities said the investigation into his death was impeded by two youths who provided false information, for which they are now facing criminal charges.
For their part, Wanda Plawer, 45, and her family continue to struggle with the bombing.
“Nothing will ever be the same. Our son had to graduate from high school without his father being there. . . . He won’t be there to walk his second daughter down the aisle of her wedding. He won’t be there to share the joy of the grandchildren he wanted,” she said.