Man Arrested After Three People, Including Pastor And Baby, Shot At Church In Selma, Alabama

Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images

A man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly injuring three people, including a pastor and baby, in a shooting at a church in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday morning.

Authorities say James Minter, 26, shot his 24-year-old girlfriend, their one-month-old baby son, and the 61-year-old male pastor of the church in East Selma around 10:25 a.m. on Sunday morning.

"Witnesses informed officers that Mr. Minter entered the church and sat between the female and child that were sitting on the front row," Selma Police Department spokesman Lt. Curtis Muhannad said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "Shortly after, he pulled a handgun and started shooting."

Muhannad said the preacher was shot in the leg as he grabbed Minter, with other parishioners able to seize his weapon and subdue the gunman, before he fled the scene.

Minter was captured by police less than a mile from the church, Muhannad said.

James Junior Minter.

Selma Police Department

The victims have not been identified, but police said the girlfriend was shot in the shoulder and jaw, while her baby was shot in the hand.

Both were transported to hospital in Birmingham, where they are in a stable condition.

The church pastor, who is white, was treated for his leg wound at a local Selma hospital.

"So far, detectives have determined that a possible motive for the shooting is over child visitation and ongoing domestic violence between the couple," Muhannad said.

Minter has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, but police said he may face additional charges.

Selma was the site of the 1965 civil rights march organized by Martin Luther King Jr., in which African Americans protesting for voting rights in the South were beaten by local police.

from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1j0ui3n