MARYVILLE, Ill. — Illinois State Police say a pastor was shot and killed and two others were injured Sunday morning by an assailant at an 8 a.m. worship service.
In a telephone interview, Jeff Ross, a lay minister at the First Baptist Church of Maryville, Ill., said Senior Pastor Fred Winters was shot to death after he was hit in the heart and the neck.
"He's gone home to be free with the Lord," Ross said.
Parishioners tackled the gunman, who wounded himself with a knife, state police said. Illinois State Police say Winters used a Bible to deflect the first of four shots fired.
Master Trooper Ralph Timmins says the man walked down the aisle during the service, exchanged words with the pastor, then drew a .45-caliber handgun and fired.
Timmins said the man fatally shot Winters once before the gun jammed, then pulled out a knife and wounded himself.
Churchgoers tried to subdue the attacker, and two of them were slightly hurt by the knife, Timmons said.
The gunman and one victim, 39-year-old Terry Bullard, were being treated at St. Louis University Hospital, said spokeswoman Laura Keller. Bullard underwent surgery for stab wounds and was in serious condition, she said.Keller said the gunman was undergoing surgery early Sunday afternoon but could not provide his name, condition, or type of injuries.
Timmins said officials don't know whether Winters and the suspect knew each other.
Ross said that over the last 21 years, Winters built the congregation up from about 30 to 1,500 members. "This is just Satan. Who else would do it? Someone who wanted to stop his message," he said.
Winters was married and had two daughters, Ross said. Winters had led First Baptist for nearly 22 years and was the former president of the Illinois Baptist State Association and an adjunct professor for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to the church's website.
Ross described the church as occupying a suburban location about 18 miles outside St. Louis in an area largely untroubled by crime or violence. "He built this church in a cornfield," he said of Winters, "and now houses are filling in around us."
Winters, he said, "was on fire for the Lord. He only worried about people who were lost."
He said he and other church members were praying for the gunman. "He's still alive, so there's still a chance for him to turn his life around and find the Lord."
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