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Ohio Pastor Shot & Killed During Sunday Service

DAYTON, Ohio (KDKA/AP) - An Ohio pastor with deep roots in the Dayton community was shot and killed at his church, and police have taken his brother into custody for the slaying.

Dayton police say 70-year-old William B. Schooler was shot around 12:30 p.m. Sunday while in his office at St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church.

According to CBS affiliate WHIO, witnesses said the shooting happened at the pulpit while the choir was singing. However, police have reported that Schooler was not in the pulpit when he was attacked.

His brother, 68-year-old Daniel Gregory Schooler, was in Montgomery County jail Sunday. Police Sgt. Richard Blommel says he'll face a murder charge Monday.

Daniel-Gregory-Schooler
Photo: WHIO/Montgomery County Jail

WHIO reports that back in 2001, Daniel was charged with felonious assault with a firearm specification and carrying a concealed weapon, according to Montgomery County Common Pleas court records.

Court documents noted that Schooler "may be mentally ill and in need of treatment."

Blommel says the pastor was the only intended victim of the act.

Joyce Napier, the niece of the brothers, told the Dayton Daily News that Daniel Schooler had a history of mental illness, which she believes played a role in the shooting.

"I would think it has to be something's going on in his head to do something like that, because we were raised to love," she told the newspaper. "Family matters - that's the way were raised."

Besides being pastor at the church, William Schooler was a past interim president of the Dayton school board and current president of the local Baptist ministers union.

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