You have probably already seen the horrible news from Maryville, Illinois today about a hooded man who gunned down a pastor during church this morning. The details of the incident are not yet clear, but the pastor’s name was Dr. Fred Winter. He leaves behind a wife and two daughters and a congregation that he has led for 22 years. Dr. Winter was a graduate of Southern Seminary, and his doctor of ministry supervisors have made some comments about Dr. Winter here.
Please pray for Dr. Winter’s family, for the two who were injured trying to subdue the gunman, for the church, and for the gunman himself.
8 Comments
Tom Fuerst
Is there any word on what motivated this?
Darius T
Reports say that he probably had Lyme’s disease, which caused lesions on his brain, driving him insane.
Darius T
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/DEB1CA304D8EA6198625757400146485?OpenDocument
I feel sorry for the attacker, seems possible that he had little, if any, control over his actions (though the fact that he intentionally went to the church to shoot the pastor seems to still indicate some mental capacity, but I’m not psychologist).
volfan007
I dont care what this man had… he murdered this Pastor. And, he murdered this Pastor for a reason. There was some reason that he chose to go to this particular Church to shoot that particular Pastor. Maybe he was mad at God for having lime disease, and decided to shoot God’s representative. I dont know. But, the fact is that this man murdered another. He should pay the price for it.
David
Darius T
Let’s wait to here real specifics before we make any hasty judgments.
John Holmberg
Amen to that, Darius
volfan007
The shooter had enough ammo to kill 30 people. He had Sunday marked on his calendar as “Death Day.” He calmly walked past numerous people in order to get to the preacher.
This was planned. It was premeditated. It was deliberate. It was well thought out. If his gun had not jammed, he would have killed many.
David
Darius T
volfan, I agree that the “facts” of the case seem to indicate more than just a mental illness (perhaps a man who was frustrated with God for letting him suffer??). I’m just saying, before you flip the switch and fry the guy, you may want to hear the whole story. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if you end up being correct in your hasty judgment, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s hasty.