Shooting in church in Selma, Ala. - massacre avoided

[vaskidmark]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/us/selma-alabama-church-shooting.html

“The pastor was trying to wrestle the gun from him — the pastor was being a good Samaritan,” said Michael W. Jackson, the district attorney of Dallas County. “But he got shot.”

....

According to the police, Mr. Minter entered the Oasis Tabernacle Church, a small, one-story building, during the morning service and sat next to his girlfriend and his 1-month-old son in the front row. Shortly afterward, he took out a pistol and shot his girlfriend in the face, before turning the gun on the baby, a police statement said.

....

“The pastor probably prevented a lot more shooting,” Mr. Jackson said.

 

Guy goes into church and sits next to his girlfriend and his son.  Pulls out gun and shoots girlfriend and son.  Pastor apparently has time to get to the guy and try to grab the gun before anybody else got shot.

Why is my pea-brain thinking that if the guy wanted to he could have started shooting up the rest of the congregation before the pastor got to him?

But it's a shooting, and it happened in a church.  So it must have been a "church shooting massacre" that was averted by the brave pastor.

stay safe.

[Devonai]

Maybe I'm remembering my Sunday School wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's not what the Good Samaritan did.

[brimic]

Maybe I'm remembering my Sunday School wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's not what the Good Samaritan did.

Yrah, the good samaritan was much less ninja.

[Hawkmoon]

“The pastor probably prevented a lot more shooting,” Mr. Jackson said.

Or not.

Article says something about "domestic dispute." My guess: The only intended victims were the girlfriend and the baby. No intention to shoot up a church, no plans for a "massacree."

Parsing the article for clues, I zero in on the fact that the baby is one MONTH old. Extrapolating wildly from that, my guess is that the shooter got his GF knocked up. Daddy didn't want the responsibility (or expense) of a baby. GF didn't want to have an abortion, so she had the baby. Daddy wanted to avoid paying child support, so he decided the best way to do that would be to kill the [now former] GF and the baby.

God only knows why he thought church might be the best place to do that.

It's fortunate that Daddy was an exceptionally poor shot. Probably used one of these:

[roo_ster]

Not to worry, the shooter was black and it will all soon be forgotten.

#BlackLivesMatterOnlyWhenShotByWhitey

[MechAg94]

So the pastor got to him first.  He was in a position to see him pull out the gun.  What was everyone else doing?

[230RN]

Alcohol content?

[Firethorn]

So the pastor got to him first.  He was in a position to see him pull out the gun.  What was everyone else doing?

Singing?  Paying attention to the preacher?  Ducking and covering because they didn't know where exactly the gunshots came from?

[Perd Hapley]

The article says this took place on the front row, meaning the pastor may have been in the best position to see what was happening, and very close to it.

It depends.

The pastor may have been the only one out in front of the congregation, or there may have been a choir, or maybe one or two elders/associate pastors/bishops on an amen pew off to the side.

The pastor may have been up on a raised dias, on top of a raised platform, or he may have been right there, at floor level with the miscreant. Or some place in between.

Maybe he knew more about the people involved, and was more mentally prepared to accept what was happening, and then act.

[MechAg94]

Please note I wasn't trying to blame anyone.  First row would make it easy for the Pastor to get to first.

[Firethorn]

Given that 'everybody' survived, I'd say that the 61 year old pastor earned his accolades that day by preventing at least two deaths.  That of the girlfriend and child.  They were still alive, thus he wasn't done shooting yet.

The article also implies that others did help, just that the pastor had at least partial hold on the gun.  Probably why he got shot in the leg, but nobody else was shot in the head/chest. 

[freakazoid]

if the pastor hadn't stopped him I see only two possible outcomes after he shot the mom and baby, he turns the gun on himself, or he starts shooting everybody else. So the pastor quite possibly did prevent a massacre.

[Perd Hapley]

He must have waited until the gunman stopped to switch out 5-round, low-capacity magazines.

[vaskidmark]

if the pastor hadn't stopped him I see only two possible outcomes after he shot the mom and baby, he turns the gun on himself, or he starts shooting everybody else. So the pastor quite possibly did prevent a massacre.

How about the guy says "My work here is done" and walks out?  That's just as possible as either of your two scenarios.

stay safe.