Women kills mother and minister, then self
A woman committed suicide after shooting dead her mother and the minister at a church today.
Sheila Wilson killed her mother Jennie Mae Robinson and the Rev Johnny Clyde Reynolds in a sanctuary after Sunday school at the Turner Monumental AME Church in Atlanta.
She then turned the handgun on herself.
Members of the congregation said Wilson, 43, was agitated when she came to the church in the city’s Kirkwood district.
Police did not say how many shots were fired.
Mr Reynolds, 62, had just finished teaching Sunday school when he stopped to talk to Wilson and her mother, said assistant pastor Christy Miller.
Police spokesman Sgt John Quigley said officers did not know of any possible motive but worshippers said Wilson had a history of mental illness.
Geraldine Andrews, Mr Reynolds’ daughter-in-law, said Mrs Robinson had recently taken Wilson out of a mental health clinic.
Wilson’s cousin, 17-year-old Nekeshia Burton, said she had gone to the church early this morning to talk to Mr Reynolds.
“Something wasn’t sitting right with her,” Burton said.
The shootings happened before most worshippers arrived for church. When they got there and heard what had happened, many sobbed and hugged in front of the building.
“We’re such a loving church, a family church,” Miller said. “We’ll support each other through this.”
