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A pastor was killed and two other people were injured in a shooting at an East Texas church on Sunday (local time) after the pastor confronted a man who had hidden from police at the church overnight, said a local sheriff.
Authorities had been using dogs and drones to search for the man Saturday night in a forest near Winona, Texas, following a car chase, and the pastor of nearby Starrville Methodist Church discovered him hiding in a bathroom of a church Sunday morning, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said. at a press conference.
Zak Wellerman / AP
The Smith County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the fatal shooting incident at the Starville Methodist Church in Winona, Texas, in which a pastor was shot and killed with his own handgun.
Smith said he did not know why the man was initially being pursued, but that his license plates were “fictitious.”
The pastor pulled out a gun and ordered the man to stop, Smith said, but the man grabbed the gun and began shooting with it. The pastor was killed, a second person was shot and another was injured in a fall.
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The man later stole the pastor’s vehicle and fled eastward before being arrested by officers in nearby Harrison County, Smith said. He said the man was hospitalized Sunday afternoon with gunshot wounds to his hand, but it is unclear when he was shot.
Smith declined to identify the pastor, the other injured persons or the suspect. The sheriff said the suspect in the shooting will likely face a capital murder charge.
The shooting was reported around 9:20 a.m. and there were no services at the time, said Sgt. Larry Christian of the sheriff’s office. Smith said the pastor, his wife, and two other people were in the church at the time.
The man appears to have taken refuge in the church for convenience and there is nothing to indicate that the shooting was motivated by religious animus, the sheriff said.
“This is not a church-related or religious-related offense,” Smith said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent his condolences.
“Our hearts go out to the victims and families of those killed or injured in this terrible tragedy,” he said in a statement.
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The man appears to have taken refuge in the church for convenience and there is nothing to indicate that the shooting was motivated by religious animosity.
It is unclear exactly when the man entered the church in Starrville, near Winona, about 100 miles east of Dallas.
Representatives for Starrville Methodist could not be immediately reached for comment. Starrville Methodist was built in 1853, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
The shooting came just over a year after a gunman opened fire at a church near Fort Worth, killing two before he was fatally shot by a parishioner.
Texas officials praised the swift action by parishioners, saying it prevented further killings and showed the effectiveness of the state’s permissive gun laws, including a 2019 measure that affirmed the right of licensed gun owners to carry a gun. in places of worship.
That law was passed in response to the 2017 massacre at Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church, where a man shot dead more than two dozen people in a Sunday service before taking his own life.
Since then, a cottage industry has sprung up in Texas and other states to train and arm civilians to protect their churches using the techniques and equipment of law enforcement.
