Holy Terror

Eight die in a Memphis battle

When two Memphis policemen answered a routine call about a shoplifting suspect at a house in a working-class black neighborhood last week, they had no idea that seven members of a fanatical religious cult were waiting for them inside. Led by Lindberg Sanders, 49, a self-styled "black Jesus," the Bible-reading cultists considered police to be agents of the devil. Some 30 hours after the police visit, eight people lay dead, including a patrolman who had been held hostage and then beaten to death.

The trouble began Tuesday afternoon when officers visited the house at 2239 Shannon in...

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