Selma, Alabama, to help local activists in their voter registration campaign. Jackson attended meetings several nights a week at Zion's Chapel Methodist Church. Attack and fatal shooting On the night of February 18, 1965, about 500 people were organized by the SCLC activist C. T. Vivian left Zion United Methodist Church in Marion and attempted a peaceful walk to the Perry County jail, about a half a block away, where young civil-rights worker James Orange was being held. The marchers planned to sing hymns and return to the church. Police later said that they believed the crowd was planning a jailbreak. Among the marchers were Jackson, his 16-year-old sister, Emma Jean, mother, and maternal grandfather Cager Lee. They were met at the post office by a line of Marion police officers, county sheriff's deputies, and Alabama state troopers. During the standoff, streetlights were abruptly turned off (some sources say they were shot out by the police), and the police began to beat the protesters. Among those beaten were two United Press International photographers, whose cameras were smashed, and NBC News correspondent Richard Valeriani, who was beaten so badly that he was hospitalized. The marchers turned and scattered back toward the church. Jackson, his sister, his mother Viola Jackson, and his 82-year-old grandfather Cager Lee, ran into Mack's Café behind the church, pursued by state troopers. Police clubbed Lee to the floor in the kitchen; when Viola attempted to pull the police off, she was also beaten. When Jackson tried to protect his mother, one trooper threw him against a cigarette machine. A second trooper shot Jackson twice in the abdomen. It was not until 2005 that trooper James Bonard Fowler was publicly associated with the shooting. In an interview with The Anniston Star, he admitted the shooting, saying it was self-defense, as he thought Jackson was going for his gun. The wounded Jackson left the café, suffering additional blows by the police, and collapsed in front of the bus station. He was taken to the hospital. In the presence of FBI officials at the hospital, Jackson told lawyer Oscar Adams, of Birmingham, that he was "clubbed down" by state troopers after he was shot and had escaped from the café. Before his death, Jackson was served with an arrest warrant by Col. Al Lingo, head of the Alabama State Police. The Alabama State Senate responded to national criticism and "formally