Man charged with attempted murder after church shooting in Alabama

The Selma man accused of shooting his girlfriend, infant and a pastor, during a church service on Sunday is scheduled to make his first court appearance today, according to officials.

Neither Minter’s age or hometown have been made available by police, reported ABC News.

Police say a dispute over visitation as well as ongoing domestic violence could have been the motive for the shooting.

According to Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson, Minter has been charged with three counts of attempted murder.

The Oasis Tabernacle Church is seen in East Selma, Ala., on Sunday, September 20, 2015.

Congregants took matters into their own hands and rushed toward Minter as quickly as he began to fire the gun, said Muhannad. She and the baby were sent to Birmingham for medical treatment. Minter shot his girlfriend, 24, her 1-month-old infant, and the church’s pastor, Earl Carswell, 61.

The Selma Times Journal reports witnesses telling Minter entering the church and sitting in the front row between his former girlfriend and the baby.

“A whole lot more people could have been shot”, Jackson said.

The pastor, woman and baby are in stable condition.

After the shooting, Minter fled the scene however was caught by police not as much as a mile away. The fatal shooting reignited national debates over gun control in the United States – an issue that President Barack Obama said left him most “frustrated” over the past six years of his presidency. “It takes a lot when you have someone with a firearm that’s actually firing upon a person in a closed-quarters area, and you do whatever you can with regards to your own life to protect someone else’s life”. Jackson adds that Minter is being now held without bond at the Dallas County jail. Authorities are also investigating whether Minter violated a protective order, Muhannad said.