A man opened fire during a church service in Alabama on Sunday, wounding his girlfriend, her baby and a pastor before being arrested on attempted murder charges, a prosecutor said.
The shooting rattled the congregation of Oasis Tabernacle Church in east Selma but was not believed to be racially motivated, said Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson.
“This was a domestic violence situation,” Jackson said. “It’s just a sad situation when people have to be on guard in their church.”
In June, a black pastor and eight others were gunned down at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, by a white gunman who authorities allege targeted them because of their race.
The pastor in Sunday’s shooting is white and the alleged gunman, James Minter, his girlfriend and the infant are black, Jackson said.
The prosecutor said Minter and his girlfriend had been having problems before Minter went into the church Sunday morning and began shooting. The pastor was shot as he intervened and tried to wrestle away Minter’s gun, Jackson said.
Jackson said the mother was in critical condition after being shot in the face. He did not know the conditions of the pastor and infant.
Minter was jailed without bail on three counts of attempted murder, Jackson said.
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