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News item: from Winona, TX.
A Methodist minister, Mark McWilliams, was killed and 2 others injured in a shooting Sunday in an east TX (about 100 miles from Dallas) church after McWilliams confronted a man, Mytrez Woolen, who had hidden from police in the church overnight.
McWilliams, pastor of Starrville Methodist Church, discovered Woolen hiding in a bathroom. The Smith County sheriff would not comment on why the man was being sought.
McWilliams, 62, drew a gun and ordered Woolen, 21, to lie down. In the ensuing fracas, Woolen grabbed the gun and began shooting. McWilliams was killed, another person was injured by gunfire, and a 3rd injured in a fall.
Woolen stole McWilliams’ vehicle and was subsequently arrested. He was hospitalized with gunshot wounds and is now in Smith County Jail on bail. He will likely face a capital murder charge.
One might ask why McWilliams had a gun in the first place. Why is a purported man of peace brandishing a weapon of violence?
In the second, why was he so eager to allow justice (as he perceived it) to triumph mercy? Did he know Woolen was a fugitive? Would it have mattered?
