Man, 21, charged with murder in fatal shooting of Texas pastor

A 21-year-old man who hid from police in an East Texas church was charged with first-degree murder and felony assault in a shooting that left the pastor dead and two people injured Sunday, a local sheriff said.

Authorities had been using dogs and drones to search for the man late Saturday in woods near Winona, Texas, following a car chase, and the pastor of the nearby Starrville Methodist Church discovered him hiding in a church bathroom Sunday morning, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith told reporters.

Smith said police initially pursued the man because he was suspected of brandishing a shotgun through the sunroof of a Volkswagen Jetta he was driving Saturday. Authorities believe the suspect, identified as 21-year-old Mytrez Deunte Woolen of Marshall, Texas, broke into the church after police had left the area about 2 a.m. Sunday.

Pastor Mark Allen McWilliams, 62, drew a gun and ordered Woolen to stop, Smith said, but Woolen grabbed the weapon and began shooting with it. McWilliams was killed, a second person was injured by gunfire and another was hurt in a fall.

Woolen then stole the pastor’s vehicle and fled east before being arrested by deputies in nearby Harrison County, Smith said. He said Woolen was hospitalized Sunday afternoon with gunshot wounds to his hand, but that it’s unclear when he was shot.

Woolen was charged with felony assault and capital murder. He was being held at Smith County Jail, with bond set at $3.5 million.

The shooting was reported about 9:20 a.m. Sunday, and there were no services going on, said Sgt. Larry Christian of the sheriff’s office. Smith said the pastor, his wife and two other people were in the church at the time.

Woolen appears to have taken shelter in the church out of convenience, and there is nothing to indicate that the shooting was motivated by religious animus, the sheriff said.

“This is not a church-related, religion-related offense,” Smith said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent his condolences. “Our hearts are with the victims and the families of those killed or injured in this terrible tragedy,” he said in a statement.

It’s unclear exactly when Woolen entered the church in Starrville, near Winona, about 100 miles east of Dallas.

Representatives of Starrville Methodist could not be immediately reached for comment. Starrville Methodist was built in 1853, according to the Texas State Historical Assn.

The shooting came a little more than a year after a gunman opened fire at a church near Fort Worth, killing two people before he was fatally shot by a congregant.