At eleven o'clock on Monday morning October 29, 2012, in Forest Hill, a suburban town outside of Fort Worth, Texas, Derrick Birdow crashed his Ford Crown Victoria into the Greater Sweethome Missionary Baptist Church. The 850-member congregation was founded in 1995 by Reverend Danny Kirk, a former football star at East Texas State University.
Shortly after the sedan smashed into the brick building the 53-year-old pastor came out of the church to investigate the source of the commotion. He encountered 33-year-old Birdow who, after plowing into the structure, climbed out of his car apparently unhurt. With no warning, Mr. Birdow shoved Pastor Kirk against the car and began punching him in the head.
John Whitaker, a church maintenance employee, when he saw a man punching the pastor ran outside to help him. While Whitaker was able to punch the attacker several times his blows didn't faze Derrick Birdow who broke away from the altercation and fled into the church with the pastor and the janitor in pursuit.
The church secretary, aware that a crazy man had plowed his car into the building, attacked the pastor and was now inside the church, locked herself in her office and called 911. "My pastor is bleeding, he's been attacked," she said. "I'm not going out there. I need help real fast. Send policemen. I do need an ambulance."
The 911 dispatcher asked, "Does your pastor know him?"
"I have no idea," answered the frightened secretary.
Inside the church, Derrick Birdow ran to the music room where he grabbed an electric guitar. As John Whitaker turned a corner in the hallway Birdow used the instrument to blindside him with two blows to the head. Seriously injured, Mr. Whitaker went down. Birdow then began beating Pastor Kirk with the guitar, turning the scene into a blood-bath.
When officers with the Forest Hill Police Department burst into the church they saw Birdow, covered in the minister's blood, beating him to death with the church musical instrument. One of the officers, through the use of a taser gun, subdued the crazed attacker enough to slap on the handcuffs. As the police hauled the violent intruder to a patrol car he continued to resist. After placing the suspect into the back of the cruiser and returning to the church, the officers realized they had not arrived in time to save Reverend Danny Kirk. Derrick Birdow had beaten the pastor to death.
A short time later, a police officer checking on Birdow in the back of the patrol car, found him unresponsive. Paramedics arrived at the scene, couldn't find a pulse, and rushed him to the John Peter Smith Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
In 2004, a Tarrant County judge had sentenced Derrick Birdow to a five-year prison sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Birdow had also been convicted in the county for the possession of controlled substances, DUI and charges related to domestic violence. According to one of this man's relatives, Birdow had been having some "issues," and he hadn't "been himself." Birdow had also "been going through some stuff. He's not a happy dude." Derrick Birdow was not a member of Pastor Kirk's congregation, but his children may have attended the church. It was not known if Reverend Kirk and his killer were acquainted.
In February 2013, Tarrant County Medical Examiner Dr. Nizam Peerwani ruled that Derrick Birdow had died of PCP ingestion.
There should be no place more peaceful on a Monday morning in suburban Fort Worth than a Baptist church. But in America, when it comes to mayhem and murder, no place is off-limits. Nevertheless, the beating death of a Baptist minister at his own church by a man wielding an electric guitar, even by U.S. standards of drug-addled crime and mental illness, was more than unusual.
Shortly after the sedan smashed into the brick building the 53-year-old pastor came out of the church to investigate the source of the commotion. He encountered 33-year-old Birdow who, after plowing into the structure, climbed out of his car apparently unhurt. With no warning, Mr. Birdow shoved Pastor Kirk against the car and began punching him in the head.
John Whitaker, a church maintenance employee, when he saw a man punching the pastor ran outside to help him. While Whitaker was able to punch the attacker several times his blows didn't faze Derrick Birdow who broke away from the altercation and fled into the church with the pastor and the janitor in pursuit.
The church secretary, aware that a crazy man had plowed his car into the building, attacked the pastor and was now inside the church, locked herself in her office and called 911. "My pastor is bleeding, he's been attacked," she said. "I'm not going out there. I need help real fast. Send policemen. I do need an ambulance."
The 911 dispatcher asked, "Does your pastor know him?"
"I have no idea," answered the frightened secretary.
Inside the church, Derrick Birdow ran to the music room where he grabbed an electric guitar. As John Whitaker turned a corner in the hallway Birdow used the instrument to blindside him with two blows to the head. Seriously injured, Mr. Whitaker went down. Birdow then began beating Pastor Kirk with the guitar, turning the scene into a blood-bath.
When officers with the Forest Hill Police Department burst into the church they saw Birdow, covered in the minister's blood, beating him to death with the church musical instrument. One of the officers, through the use of a taser gun, subdued the crazed attacker enough to slap on the handcuffs. As the police hauled the violent intruder to a patrol car he continued to resist. After placing the suspect into the back of the cruiser and returning to the church, the officers realized they had not arrived in time to save Reverend Danny Kirk. Derrick Birdow had beaten the pastor to death.
A short time later, a police officer checking on Birdow in the back of the patrol car, found him unresponsive. Paramedics arrived at the scene, couldn't find a pulse, and rushed him to the John Peter Smith Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
In 2004, a Tarrant County judge had sentenced Derrick Birdow to a five-year prison sentence for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Birdow had also been convicted in the county for the possession of controlled substances, DUI and charges related to domestic violence. According to one of this man's relatives, Birdow had been having some "issues," and he hadn't "been himself." Birdow had also "been going through some stuff. He's not a happy dude." Derrick Birdow was not a member of Pastor Kirk's congregation, but his children may have attended the church. It was not known if Reverend Kirk and his killer were acquainted.
In February 2013, Tarrant County Medical Examiner Dr. Nizam Peerwani ruled that Derrick Birdow had died of PCP ingestion.
There should be no place more peaceful on a Monday morning in suburban Fort Worth than a Baptist church. But in America, when it comes to mayhem and murder, no place is off-limits. Nevertheless, the beating death of a Baptist minister at his own church by a man wielding an electric guitar, even by U.S. standards of drug-addled crime and mental illness, was more than unusual.
A dead guy who believed in magical spirits. A dead guy who participated in an institution designed to enslave women and minorities and use children for sex. One less of them around.
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