A man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly injuring three people, including a pastor and baby, in a shooting at a church in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday morning.
Authorities say James Minter, 26, shot his 24-year-old girlfriend, their one-month-old baby son, and the 61-year-old male pastor of the church in East Selma around 10:25 a.m. on Sunday morning.
"Witnesses informed officers that Mr. Minter entered the church and sat between the female and child that were sitting on the front row," Selma Police Department spokesman Lt. Curtis Muhannad said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "Shortly after, he pulled a handgun and started shooting."
Muhannad said the preacher was shot in the leg as he grabbed Minter, with other parishioners able to seize his weapon and subdue the gunman, before he fled the scene.
Minter was captured by police less than a mile from the church, Muhannad said.
Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson, who lives in Selma, told BuzzFeed News the community had been shocked by the shooting at the place of worship, which he described as a mixed-race church.
"When word started traveling to all the different churches in Selma everybody was shocked and alarmed," Jackson said.
"Because of what went on in South Carolina and these other churches, people now are starting to see that they have to be alert and on guard when they go to church because of the times that we live in," he said.
The victims have not been identified, but police said the girlfriend was shot in the shoulder and jaw, while her baby was shot in the hand.
Both were transported to hospital in Birmingham, where their condition was stable.
The church pastor, who is white, was treated for his leg wound at a local Selma hospital.
"So far, detectives have determined that a possible motive for the shooting is over child visitation and ongoing domestic violence between the couple," Muhannad said.
Minter has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, but police said he may face additional charges.
Selma was the site of the 1965 civil rights march organized by Martin Luther King Jr., in which African Americans protesting for voting rights in the South were beaten by local police.