Pastor shoots and kills attacker – in church

DETROIT (Christian Examiner) – A Detroit pastor shot and killed a man who attacked him with a brick during Sunday morning services Oct. 18, the Detroit News has reported.

According to the news site, the incident occurred about 15 minutes into the afternoon worship service at City of God Ministries, described by the news site as a small, "storefront" church.

The attack, however, was not random.

"The pastor had had issues with the man before," Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt said. "He had been threatening him to do bodily harm. He walked into the service and went after the pastor with a brick. The pastor pulled out his Glock and fired several shots. I think he hit him four or five times, and the man died."

The victim was identified as Deante Smith, Dolunt said. He also said the pastor was taken away for questioning by police, but not arrested, following the incident. The district attorney will decide whether or not he should be charged.

Smith and the pastor, who is not named in the article, apparently have been at odds for some time, with Smith alleging several weeks ago that the pastor had gotten his wife pregnant. According to the church's Facebook page, the pastor's name is Keon Allison. Police are reportedly investigating the relationship between Smith's wife and the pastor.

Dolunt also said police had been asked to come to the church in September because Smith wrote on his Facebook page that he planned to attend the services Sept. 16. A day earlier, he wrote that the baby his wife conceived was not his, but the pastor's.

"This (expletive) got my (expletive) pregnant. Tick tock (expletive) and everybody with you," a posting on Sept. 18 said.

Should the church's pastor not be charged for the killing of his attacker, he could still be charged with carrying a concealed weapon in a place of worship. Michigan law currently forbids the carrying of guns in churches, but after recent tragedies like the shooting in Charleston, S.C, in June that claimed the lives of nine parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, legislators are rethinking the strategy.

A bill before the Michigan legislature would allow licensed conceal carry permit holders to take guns into places now off limits – such as churches.