No suspects and no possible motives have been offered in the wake of Saturday’s shooting. His family already has forgiven the killer.
A Tennessee family and the Memphis-area’s pastor’s flock are in mourning after Don Smith was shot and killed Saturday in unexplained circumstances.
Smith was the pastor at Prospect Park Missionary Baptist Church in Whitehaven.
“All we know is right now he was murdered, and we can’t find the person who did it,” said Raymond Jones, identified by WREG television, with whom he spoke, as a relative. “We’re still trying to put pieces together of what actually happened that caused his death.”
His body was found by two men walking their dogs near a pond in the Hickory Hill area, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to authorities. The Shelby County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed that Smith was killed from a gunshot wound.
“We were just in disbelief,” Alandria Williams-Ware said. “We couldn’t understand why somebody would want to do something, or something this tragic would happen to us. We just had no clue.”
Smith’s wife and daughters shared some of the same memories as other family members.
“He was the type of person who would give you anything you asked for, give him your last,” Williams-Ware said in a report on the Christian Post.
“The shirt off his back. Anything,” Alice Howard added.
If Pastor Smith wasn’t on the pulpit, family members said he could be found spending time in the kitchen.
“Sundays, we compared dinners on Sundays. He’d call me, I’d call him. We’d trade our food,” Howard recalled.
Just like his cooking, family and friends said being in the same presence as Smith could warm your soul.
As Smith’s family plans his funeral, they’re not holding a grudge against whoever killed their loved one.
However, they are still looking for answers and closure.
“As a family we’re already forgiving this person, but we want justice served,” Jones said.
Pastor Smith’s funeral will be held at the Golden Gate Cathedral on Saturday at 11 a.m. A wake will be held on Friday between 4 and 7 p.m.
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