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The Rev. Al Meredith was more than 700 miles away when a gunman walked into a Maryville church and gunned down its preacher in front of his horrified congregation. But the tragedy hit the Texas preacher hard, and he's coming to help. A decade ago, another gunman fired a hail of bullets and tossed a pipe bomb down the aisle at Meredith's church in Fort Worth, killing seven people and wounding seven others, then calmly sat in a back pew and shot himself in the head. On Sunday, services are scheduled to resume at First Baptist Church in this...

MARYVILLE, Ill. (AP) — The widow of a pastor killed in mid-sermon urged mourners to reject hate and to take comfort in their faith at his funeral Friday, in the church where he was gunned down five days earlier. "On Sunday, my husband didn't die. He simply got a promotion," Cindy Winters said. She raised a hand to the sky as the "Movin' on Up" theme from "The Jeffersons" blared from the loudspeakers and the standing-room-only crowd rose to its feet at First Baptist Church in this St. Louis suburb. Fred Winters was eulogized as a coupon-clipping brainiac who never...

MARYVILLE, Ill. - A pastor shot and killed during his Sunday sermon deflected the first of the gunman's four rounds with a Bible, sending a confetti-like spray of paper into the air in a horrifying scene that congregants initially thought was a skit, police said. The gunman strode down the aisle of the sprawling First Baptist Church shortly after 8 a.m. and briefly spoke with The Rev. Fred Winters, then pulled out a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and began firing until it jammed, Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said. Churchgoers wrestled the gunman to the ground as he waved a...

Church shooting suspect has mental illness from Lyme disease By Joel Currier, Jeremy Kohler and Nicholas J.C. Pistor ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 03/09/2009 MARYVILLE — A man suspected of killing the Rev. Fred Winters during a church service in Maryville on Sunday morning had developed mental illness from a tick bite, his family has said. Police did not release the name of the suspect, who was seriously injured in a struggle with members of the congregation after the shooting of Winters at the First Baptist Church. But a source close to the case confirmed late Sunday that it is Terry Joe...

(CNN) -- Five people, including a church pastor, were shot inside the First Baptist Church of Maryville, Illinois, a police dispatcher told CNN on Sunday. The shooting occurred during a church service, the dispatcher said. The suspect was stabbed by parishioners who wrestled him to the ground.

A shooting during a morning church service outside St. Louis has left one person dead -- the church's pastor -- and several others wounded, officials said. The Rev. Fred Winters was at the pulpit at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., at 8:15 a.m. local time today when a man wearing dark clothing approached the pulpit and fired four shots, the first of which hit the pastor's Bible, Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said at a news conference late today. One of the shots from the gunman's .45 caliber pistol hit Winters in the chest, killing him, before...

Above is a video report on the shooting today at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois, where a gunman entered the sanctuary during a morning service and shot the pastor, Rev. Fred Winters, to death. Several other members were also injured before the gunman could be subdued. The gunman was reportedly not known by the congregation, and no motive has been established. Here is more reaction from a Sherrif's official and some members who were there . . . . . . (Watch Videos)

MARYVILLE, Ill. – Illinois state police say a man has shot a pastor to death and injured others at an church during a service in the community of Maryville. Illinois Master Trooper Ralph Timmins says the man walked down the aisle during the early Sunday service at First Baptist Church in Maryville. He said the man exchanged words with pastor Fred Winters and then pulled out a .45-caliber handgun. Timmins said the man fatally shot Winters once before the gun jammed, then pulled out a knife and wounded himself. Churchgoers tried to subdue the attacker and two of them suffered...

After months of trying to resolve a million-dollar lawsuit involving a severely broken arm allegedly injured at the Blount County Jail, Jamey Southerland made a decision to go public with his story Thursday. His decision comes, he said, after a mediation that day with defendants from the county turned out to be a failure. Resolving the issue without going to trial does not seem to be a possibility now, he said Friday. Southerland, 34, Morristown, filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Knoxville earlier this year, naming Blount County, Blount County Sheriff James Berrong, the Blount County Sheriff’s...

The Maryville Board of Education voted on second reading Thursday night to ban flags, including the long-standing Rebel flag, from school-sponsored events. About 75 people attended the meeting with 10 audience members speaking both for and against the policy. The event safety policy bans ``noisemakers, flags, laser-pointers (lights), sirens, whistles, portable stereos (e.g. CD players and tape players), banners, horns, handheld signs and implements (e.g. poles, sticks and wires to support flags, banners or other such items at any school sponsored activity.'' The policy addresses other areas including abusive language, harassment/intimidation and taunting. ``Any action or speech that might reasonably...

Maryville, Blount County (WVLT) - No matter where you go across the south, almost everybody's got an opinion on the rebel flag. If you remember earlier this month, the Maryville School Board banned the flag from any school related function, but an African American man well known to civil rights issues says that's not right and he's taking his protest to the roadways. Blount County Bureau Chief Stephen McLamb caught up with him on Thursday. The Maryville School Board this month banned flying the Confederate flag amid racial tensions but that hasn't stopped H. K. Edgerton, a former NAACP leader,...