Estranged Husband Is Suspect in Killing of Wife, Son, Parishioner

A gunman kicked open the doors of a church during services and marched down the aisle, killing his wife, 2-year-old son and another person as he fired into the pews while screaming parishioners scattered, police and witnesses said.

“His little boy turned and said, ‘Daddy.’ That’s when he shot. He hit his wife first and then the baby,” congregation member Lolita Enkadi said. “And then he just started emptying his gun.”

Shon Miller’s 25-year-old wife, Carla; their son, Shon Jr.; and another member of the New St. John Fellowship Baptist Church were killed Wednesday night at the one-story stucco church 20 miles southeast of Baton Rouge. Four others were wounded.

Miller, a homeless former welder, had gunned down his mother-in-law, Mildred Vessel, 53, at home a few blocks away Wednesday night, police said.

Derek Breaux, a neighbor of the slain mother-in-law, said he heard four shots and saw a van belonging to Vessel rolling backward into the ditch and a dark car speeding away.

Miller later was shot in the back during a standoff with police at a shed, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Police said Thursday that Miller will be charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.

The shooting lasted long enough for the gunman to empty one clip in the semiautomatic pistol and then reload and continue shooting into the pews. As the gunman left, the Rev. Wilbert Holmes heard him mumble something like, “That will show you.”

Miller, who is in his 20s, had spent time in jail for violating a court order to stay away from his wife.