![]() ![]() Woolen, who was firing at her, the sheriff said. The pastor’s wife was not shot but suffered injuries from a fall while she was fleeing from Mr. His condition was not immediately available. One other person, a man who was shot, had surgery at UT Health East Texas hospital on Sunday afternoon, officials said. The gunman had what appeared to be a burn on his hand most likely incurred during the shooting, the sheriff said. Woolen fled the scene in the pastor’s 2018 GMC truck before being apprehended by state troopers after they located and shut down the vehicle using OnStar, the sheriff said. Woolen overpowered him, grabbed the gun and shot and killed the pastor. But while the pastor was distracted talking to his wife, Mr. Woolen to get on the floor, the sheriff said. The pastor drew his handgun and ordered Mr. Woolen was soon discovered hiding in the restroom, holding a red bank bag that belonged to the church, Sheriff Smith said. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” the sheriff said. Unaware that a fugitive was hiding in their house of worship, the pastor, Mark McWilliams, 62, his wife and two others entered the church at around 9:30 a.m. Woolen most likely broke into the building sometime after 2 a.m. The church had been searched on Saturday night but Mr. Woolen from taking the shotgun with him - he ran into the woods, leading to an unsuccessful manhunt involving drones and dogs that lasted more than two hours, Sheriff Smith said. Woolen was driving were “fictitious - they didn’t belong on that vehicle.”Īfter the Jetta crashed near the church - causing the car’s airbags to deploy and obstructing Mr. He did not elaborate on those episodes but added that the license plates on the car Mr. Since then, a cottage industry has sprung up in Texas and other states to train and arm civilians to protect their churches using the techniques and equipment of law enforcement.The man, identified as Mytrez Deunte Woolen, 21, of Marshall, Texas, was sought in two separate shootings on Saturday evening, Sheriff Smith said. That law was passed in response to the 2017 massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, where a man fatally shot more than two dozen people at a Sunday service before taking his own life. ![]() Texas officials hailed the congregant’s quick action, saying it prevented further killing and showed the effectiveness of the state’s permissive gun laws, including a 2019 measure that affirmed the right of licensed handgun holders to carry a weapon in places of worship. ![]() The shooting came a little more than a year after a gunman opened fire at a church near Fort Worth, killing two people before he was fatally shot by a congregant. Starrville Methodist was built in 1853, according to the Texas State Historical Association. Representatives of Starrville Methodist could not be immediately reached for comment. ![]() It’s unclear exactly when the man entered the church in Starrville, near Winona, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Dallas. “Our hearts are with the victims and the families of those killed or injured in this terrible tragedy,” he said in a statement. “This is not a church-related, religion-related offense,” said Smith. The man appears to have taken shelter in the church out of convenience and there’s nothing to indicate the shooting was motivated by religious animus, the sheriff said. Smith said the pastor, his wife and two other people were in the church at the time. Larry Christian, of the sheriff’s office. The shooting was reported around 9:20 a.m., and there were no services going on at that time, said Sgt. ![]()
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