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CNN Live At Daybreak
U.S. Missionary Killed in Lebanon
Aired November 21, 2002 - 06:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to try to get some more information for you now on the killing of a U.S. missionary in Lebanon.
CNN's Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler joins us live by phone.
Hello -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Carol. Yes, a few more details coming out in the past hour or so. Let's establish the facts known so far.
About five hours ago, an American missionary, Bonnie Weatherall, aged 30, according to police here in Lebanon, was shot dead, they say, at close range by a man armed with 7-millimeter pistol, three shots to the head which killed her.
Now, Bonnie Weatherall was a nurse working at a clinic, a prenatal clinic in the northern -- sorry -- the southern part of the Lebanese port city of Sidon, which is about 40 miles south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
This is a small clinic. It was opened about three years ago, and the dead missionary, the American Bonnie Weatherall, became a volunteer in that clinic just over a year ago, according to the Reverend Sammy Daher (ph), from the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which ran this clinic.
This clinic was for low-income families around the port city of Sidon and also for Palestinian families from nearby Palestinian camps, notably Ain al-Hilweh, which is not very far from Sidon. The Palestinians in Ain al-Hilweh, some of them associated with hard-line Islamic groups, so that is one issue of concern there.
No motive has been established yet, but the U.S. Embassy in Beirut has sent two officials to the scene. They're not investigating. Lebanese police and security forces are trying also to establish a motive.
What we know from church sources is that the American missionary went to the clinic just before 8:00 a.m. local time, opened the door, was followed and shot inside the clinic.
In that clinic, normally there is an American, the one who was killed, a British nurse and a Lebanese nurse; so three -- two of them internationals. Now, the husband of the dead American missionary, Gary Weatherall, is British. He has just given a statement through the church that says -- quote -- "My wife died because of her love for the church and because she loved helping the people of Sidon and Lebanon."
As I say, no motive for this yet, but obviously deep concern about this close-quarter shooting.
Back to you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Brent Sadler, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired November 21, 2002 - 06:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to try to get some more information for you now on the killing of a U.S. missionary in Lebanon.
CNN's Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler joins us live by phone.
Hello -- Brent.
BRENT SADLER, CNN BEIRUT BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Carol. Yes, a few more details coming out in the past hour or so. Let's establish the facts known so far.
About five hours ago, an American missionary, Bonnie Weatherall, aged 30, according to police here in Lebanon, was shot dead, they say, at close range by a man armed with 7-millimeter pistol, three shots to the head which killed her.
Now, Bonnie Weatherall was a nurse working at a clinic, a prenatal clinic in the northern -- sorry -- the southern part of the Lebanese port city of Sidon, which is about 40 miles south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
This is a small clinic. It was opened about three years ago, and the dead missionary, the American Bonnie Weatherall, became a volunteer in that clinic just over a year ago, according to the Reverend Sammy Daher (ph), from the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which ran this clinic.
This clinic was for low-income families around the port city of Sidon and also for Palestinian families from nearby Palestinian camps, notably Ain al-Hilweh, which is not very far from Sidon. The Palestinians in Ain al-Hilweh, some of them associated with hard-line Islamic groups, so that is one issue of concern there.
No motive has been established yet, but the U.S. Embassy in Beirut has sent two officials to the scene. They're not investigating. Lebanese police and security forces are trying also to establish a motive.
What we know from church sources is that the American missionary went to the clinic just before 8:00 a.m. local time, opened the door, was followed and shot inside the clinic.
In that clinic, normally there is an American, the one who was killed, a British nurse and a Lebanese nurse; so three -- two of them internationals. Now, the husband of the dead American missionary, Gary Weatherall, is British. He has just given a statement through the church that says -- quote -- "My wife died because of her love for the church and because she loved helping the people of Sidon and Lebanon."
As I say, no motive for this yet, but obviously deep concern about this close-quarter shooting.
Back to you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Brent Sadler, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
