SELMA, Ala. (AP) – The Sunday service at Oasis Tabernacle Church had started like any other: A prayer was recited over the small 25-member congregation and the co-pastor was about to begin the day’s Bible lesson. Before he could start, however, authorities say a young man sitting in the front pew next to his estranged girlfriend and their infant son jumped to his feet and opened fire.
James Junior Minter, 26, shot the baby in the hand and hit the woman in the chin before he was tackled by the woman’s father, the Alabama church’s pastor and other parishioners, all of whom were hailed as heroes for preventing even more possible bloodshed, District Attorney Michael Jackson said.
Witnesses say the entire sequence of events unfolded in less than 10 minutes. Pastor Bob Carswell said it started when Minter, appearing fidgety, entered the church Sunday morning and sat down beside his estranged girlfriend in the front row. The young woman’s mother had pulled Carswell aside earlier and whispered that she feared he might have a gun, the pastor said.
“When he sat down, he didn’t have time to get the bench warm and then he jumped up and turned the gun straight at her and started shooting at her head,” Carswell said of Minter’s ex-girlfriend, whose name has not been released.
WSFA-TV identified the woman as Sharnika Brown. In an interview posted on the station’s website late Monday, Brown told the television station Minter walked into the church, sat between her and their newborn son, and said, “I got to kill you.”