Evil Comes to Our Small Town

One of the things I've enjoyed about living just outside the small town of Perry, Georgia, for the last nine years is its relative peacefulness. Yes, there is some crime, but it's usually been small-time, not terribly violent stuff.

That changed on Saturday, when evil came to Perry. Michael Lee Hill came to Perry from Atlanta to pick up his sons Richard, age 10, and Michael, age 7, at the home of his parents. They had separated and she had told him she wanted a divorce. He got a plastic bag out of the bed of his pickup truck. When the boys kept asking what was in the bag, he pulled out ear muffs, the headphone-like things you wear at a firing range. He said that was so the boys wouldn't hear their parents fighting. He asked them to look at their mother so they wouldn't see him crying. Then, shortly before 2:30 p.m., on Saturday, August 2, Michael Lee Hill pulled a 9 mm handgun and put the gun to the back of Richard's head and killed him. He then put the gun to the back of Michael's head and killed him. He then shot his stepfather in the chest. He chased his wife into a neighbor's yard and shot her in the back and leg. He then went back into his parents' house and shot and killed himself.

Richard died at the scene, as did their father. Young Michael died at the emergency room. Their grandfather, Andrew Hill, is in critical condition at the Medical Center of Central Georgia in Macon. Their mother, Bonnie Jean Hill, was released from the hospital to return to an empty house.

We will probably never know for certain what drove Michael Lee Hill to do these unspeakable things. He apparently left no note. We can only hope that the boys didn't have the chance to realize that their father was taking their lives. And I can't imagine the agony Bonnie Jean Hill's life has become.

On Sunday morning, at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, we prayed for the souls of Richard and young Michael, and for the soul of their father, Michael Lee Hill. We also prayed for the healing of Andrew Hill and Bonnie Jean Hill. They don't attend our church and no one there on Sunday recognized their names. That didn't matter.

I ask your prayers for the souls of Richard Laurence Hill, age 7, and Michael Anthony Hill, age 10, and the troubled soul of their father, Michael Lee Hill. Pray also for the healing in body and spirit of Andrew Hill and Bonnie Lee Hill. Also, pray for the boys' friends and classmates at Tucker Elementary School. Richard was to begin first grade and Michael fifth grade today.

Lord of Life, you trampled death under your feet so we might come alive in your eternal light. We remember before you Richard, Michael, and Michael. In our anger and confusion, we need your help to find our way. When your own child, Jesus, suffered violent death, you acted through it to redeem the world. Help us live into that knowledge as we remember that they now live because of that great gift of your love. Help us release them to you. Show us that your hand has dried their tears and let us glimpse their joy in your face. Grant us strength and the spirit of healing and peace so that we may labor for your just and peaceable kingdom where all your children live in safety and fulfillment, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pray for us all as we are reminded that no place on earth is completely safe.


Neighbors leave flowers Sunday afternoon at the mailbox at 640 Pine Ridge Street in Perry where Michael Anthony Hill, 7, and Richard Lawrence Hill, 10, were shot and killed by their father, Michael Lee Hill, Saturday. (Grant Blankenship, The [Macon] Telegraph)