Officials identify Methodist pastor slain by intruder

Authorities have identified a pastor who was killed in a shooting Sunday morning at a Methodist church in the East Texas community of Starrville, officials said.

Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said at a Sunday news conference that a man who had been hiding in Starrville Methodist Church after deputies pursued him in a car chase Saturday night confronted the pastor, 62-year-old Mark Allen McWilliams, when he entered the church shortly before 9:30 a.m.

The sheriff identified the suspect Sunday evening as 21-year-old Mytrez Deunte Woolen. He faces two counts of aggravated assault and one charge of capital murder, Smith County jail records show.

The pastor was armed and drew his gun, but Woolen lunged at the pastor and took the weapon from him, the sheriff said.

The man fatally shot the pastor, Smith said. Another person was being treated for gunshot wounds, and third was taken to a hospital after a fall during the shooting, the sheriff said.

Woolen used the pastor’s firearm in the shooting, Smith said.