1 Dead and 4 Wounded at Shooting at First Baptist Church in Illinois, Update: Pastor Fred Winters Dead

Sadly, there has been another church shooting …

A gunman opened fire at approximately just before 9:00 am ET this morning at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, IL. The shooter injured 5 people before being stabbed by a parishioner. The gun man is reportedly in custody.

UPDATE I: The pastor of the First Baptist Church in Maryville, IL has been shot to death. CNN is reporting that Pastor Fred Winters has died after being shot 3 times by the unknown gun man. Pastor Fred Winters was pronounced dead on arrival to the hospital.

Fred Winters, the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Maryville, was shot and killed during the 8 a.m. service, and the attacker and two parishioners suffered knife wounds in the attack, Illinois state police spokesman Ralph Timmins told CNN affiliate KSDK.

The gunman walked in during the service and walked up to the pulpit, opening fire when he was met by Winters, Timmins said. A Maryville police dispatcher told CNN the pastor was shot three times.

It is also being reported that the gun man was not stabbed by parishioners as initially reported, but that the gunman pulled out a knife and wounded himself along with 2 other church goers who were attempting to subdue the man.

UPDATE II: Accounts of what transpired as gun man opened fire

Congregations members thought that the scene was some kind of staged drama as the gunman walked up the center aisle and shouted out, “Hey, Fred.” When Winter asked whether he could help the man, the gunman pulled out a .45-calibre handgun. Winter raised up a Bible and the gunman fired and the bullet went through the Bible and struck Winter.

At that moment, people began running, screaming and praying.

The gunman’s weapon jammed, so he pulled out a knife as two members of the congregation jumped him and tried to subdue him. The gunman took out a knife and stabbed the two men who jumped him.

“They tried to take him down and they were injured, but their injuries were not life-threatening,” Timmons said.

UPDATE III: Shooter stabbed himself after his gun jammed

UPDATE IV: Time Line of Events

UPDATE V: 27 Year Old responsible for pastor’s death … No Motive Yet

UPDATE VI: Gunman Identified as 27 Year Old Terry Joe Sedlacek and reportedly Mentally Ill

Police did not release the gunman’s name, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported late Sunday that a source near the case confirmed that he is Terry Joe Sedlacek, 27, who had developed mental illness after a tick bite, …

According to the newspaper, the man’s mother, Ruth Abernathy, said he contracted the disease after he was bitten by a tick on a family farm in the late 1990s. She described him as an avid outdoorsman and hunter.

The man was taking several medications to combat the disease and seizures, which nearly killed him in 2003, the paper said.

Neighbors, who believed Sedlacek was mentally ill, told a reporter he would sometimes wander into the middle of the road and shout obscenities for no reason.