Pastor, church members hailed as heroes in church shooting

A shooting inside a church in East Selma, Alabama on Sunday resulted in a woman, her newborn infant and the pastor being wounded and a 26-year-old man held on three counts of attempted murder.

A man has opened fire in a church in the USA state of Alabama, wounding a woman, her baby son and the pastor before he was disarmed, police say.

The prosecutor said Minter and his girlfriend had been having problems before Minter went into the church Sunday morning and began shooting.

Minter shot his former girlfriend in the shoulder and in the jaw and shot his baby son through the hand. The church’s pastor then grabbed Minter and was shot in the leg. Members of the congregation helped subdue Minter and managed to wrest away his gun and run out of the church, according to the police statement.

Other church-goers took the gun from Minter before he fled the scene – only to be taken into custody less than a mile from the church.

According to Jackson, Minter’s girlfriend and her child have been transported to a Birmingham hospital for further treatment.

The shooting is under investigation. He left his vehicle parked at the church, and the gun was left at the scene.

“It’s hard to comprehend it, it’s hard to understand it but a lot of people are struggling”.

Perkins noted that it was a true miracle that many more people weren’t shot. We still have to believe that there’s goodness in most people.

Minter is being held at the Dallas County Jail without bond, and could face life in prison for each charge.

“There were several heroes in there”, said Lt. Curtis Muhannad, of the Selma Police Department.

“This was a domestic violence situation,” Jackson said. Authorities are also investigating whether Minter violated a protective order, Muhannad said.

“We’ve reached the point where all churches are gonna have to have cameras and check for weapons”, Jackson said.