On June 30, 1974, Marcus Wayne Chenault opened fire at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, George, killing Alberta Williams King, the mother of Martin Luther King Jr.
Presbyterian Historical Society Marcus Wayne Chenault, the 23-year-old who killed Alberta Williams King and Edward Boykin.
On a quiet Sunday morning in June 1974, chaos erupted at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta when 23-year-old Marcus Wayne Chenault suddenly opened fire. In a flash, he took the lives of the church deacon, Edward Boykin, and Alberta Williams King, mother of Martin Luther King Jr.
Chenault, a troubled young man later diagnosed with schizophrenia, claimed that his hatred for Christianity and for Black ministers had inspired his attack. He had purportedly meant to kill Martin Luther King Sr., but shot at Alberta that morning because she was sitting close to him.
The shocking act marked yet another tragic loss for the King family. For his crimes, Marcus Wayne Chenault was sentenced to death, then re-sentenced to life in prison. He died while behind bars in 1995 at the age of 44.
A ‘Nice Kid’ Whose Behavior Became Increasingly Erratic
Marcus Wayne Chenault was born on June 30, 1951 in Winchester, Kentucky. His parents, Marcus and Henda Lee Chenault, were devout Baptists who regularly attended church, and Marcus had a relatively normal childhood.
In his youth, Chenault was seen as a quiet, studious boy who neighbors remembered as a “nice kid.” He and his family moved to Dayton when he was a bit older, and, in 1969, Chenault enrolled at Ohio State University. Though he began as a pre-law student, Chenault soon switched to be an education major. And that wasn’t the only change he underwent.
In Columbus, Chenault became interested in the Hebrew Pentecostal Church of the Living God, according to reporting from The New York Times in 1974. The church holds that Black people are descended from a tribe of Israelites — and are thus Black Israelites. Chenault also struck many of his fellow students at Ohio State University as “loud” and an attention seeker, and would frequently bring up the Bible in social settings like parties.
He also made a number of alarming comments. Chenault once allegedly claimed that he’d killed kittens by flushing them down the toilet, and another time, the five-foot-three Chenault purportedly said: “The only way a little guy can get any attention is to go out and shoot someone.”
YouTubeMarcus Wayne Chenault made a number of disturbing statements while enrolled at Ohio State University, and his behavior became increasingly erratic.
In March 1973, Marcus Wayne Chenault also began visiting with a man named Hananiah E. Israel (whose legal name is Stephen Hallman). A self-described “spiritual teacher,” Israel believed that Israelites of the Old Testament were Black, that American slavery had been punishment for their sins, and that Black ministers were “false shepherds.” Israel had placed ads in newspapers about his beliefs, and found that Chenault was an especially “avid” student. They met about five times, and spoke often on the phone.
“He said that he was a college kid who didn’t know anything,” Israel recounted in an interview with the New York Times in July 1974. “The boy was brilliant. All I had to give him was the key to open his mind.”
Marcus Wayne Chenault dropped out of Ohio State University his junior year, and his behavior became increasingly more erratic. In several bizarre incidents, he used a loudspeaker to blast his thoughts from his second-story apartment near campus. A neighbor in Columbus told TIME in July 1974 that Chenault’s ideology was a fusion of several religions. However, Chenault was also developing an increasing hatred toward Christianity.
Indeed, Marcus Wayne Chenault had seemingly absorbed Israel’s stance against Black ministers. And in June 1974, he decided to take action.
Alberta Williams King Is Assassinated By Marcus Wayne Chenault In Atlanta
New York Times Co./Getty ImagesMartin Luther King Sr., Alberta King, and Coretta Scott King at a memorial for Martin Luther King Jr. on April 9, 1968.
Fixated on his religious beliefs, and desperate for recognition, Marcus Wayne Chenault created a list of 10 “targets” which included Black ministers like Martin Luther King Sr., Jesse Jackson, and other civil rights figures. He purportedly stated that he was going to Atlanta “to meet destiny,” but no one knew what he meant.
On June 28, 1974, Chenault visited his family in Dayton and stole two pistols from his father. The next day, June 29, he boarded an evening bus to Atlanta. And on the morning of June 30, he made his way to Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Sr. was the church’s longtime pastor.
That morning, Chenault attended service at the church and took a seat close to the pulpit. At the beginning of the service, as Alberta Williams King played the organ for the Lord’s Prayer, Chenault bolted to his feet. He shouted You must stop this! I am tired of all this!I’m taking over this morning!”
Then he then opened fire.
“I looked toward the organ to see what we would do next,” Lillian Watkins, a member of the choir, recalled to The New York Times after the shooting. “I saw movement and I saw [Alberta] grab her face and start to fall.”
Chenault had struck 69-year-old, Alberta Williams King, 69-year-old Edward Boykin, the church deacon, and an elderly female parishioner, who survived.
As some of the congregants dove beneath the pews, and others piled onto the gunman, Chenault cried: “I’m going to kill everyone in here – they did it to me in the war.”
Marcus Wayne Chenault was quickly arrested for the shooting. When Martin Luther King Sr. asked why Chenault had killed his wife, the 23-year-old replied that she was “one of the enemy… Christians.”
Bettmann/Getty Images
Martin Luther King Sr. doubles over at the funeral of his wife, Alberta.
Afterward, Chenault also stated that he was a “Hebrew” who was “sent here on a purpose.” He claimed that, though he’d meant to kill Martin Luther King Sr., he had shot Alberta because she was sitting close to him.
The Incarceration And Death Of Marcus Wayne Chenault
When Marcus Wayne Chenault’s friends and family learned what he had done, they were in shock. Neighbors, cousins, and family friends remembered him as normal — though those who had encountered Chenault in college also recalled his sometimes bizarre behavior.
Indeed, psychologists who examined Chenault determined that he suffered from schizophrenia and delusions of grandiosity. However, they found him fit to stand trial, and Chenault was sentenced to death.
His sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1995 — partly because of the King family’s stance against the death penalty — and Marcus Wayne Chenault died in prison on August 3, 1995 at the age of 44, after suffering from a stroke.
Find A GraveThe grave of Marcus Wayne Chenault.
His murder of Alberta Williams King marked another tragedy for the King family. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in 1968 by James Earl Ray, and his brother A.D. King had drowned in a swimming pool in 1969.
Despite losing his wife and two sons, however, Martin Luther King Sr. remained strong — and dedicated to furthering the civil rights movement in the United States.
“I’m not gonna quit and I’m not gonna be stopped,” King Sr. proclaimed at his wife’s funeral. “We’ve got to carry on. So, Bunch [his nickname for his wife], I’m coming on up home. I’ll be home almost any time now.”
After reading about Marcus Wayne Chenault, discover the story of Izola Ware Curry, the woman who tried to kill Martin Luther King Jr. in 1958. Or, learn about Loyd Jowers, the Memphis man who publicly claimed that he participated in a conspiracy to kill Martin Luther King Jr.
