DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — The brother of a slain southwest Ohio pastor was expected to be charged Monday in the fatal shooting that occurred at the pastor's church office as services were winding down, police said.
Dayton police said Sunday that the Rev. William B. Schooler, 70, was shot around 12:30 p.m. Sunday at St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church.
The pastor's brother, 68-year-old Daniel Gregory Schooler, was arrested at the church and taken to the Montgomery County jail. . He was facing an expected murder charge on Monday, said Sgt. Richard Blommel. Calls to police Monday morning weren't immediately returned.
Jail records didn't list an attorney for Schooler.
"We heard pow, pow," church member Beulah Booker-Robertson said, recounting the shooting to the Dayton Daily News.
"The usher at the door said 'everybody get down, everybody get out.' "
Police said they did not know Sunday what led to the shooting, but said the pastor was the only intended victim.
The brothers' niece, Joyce Napier, told the newspaper that Daniel Schooler has a history of mental illness.
"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.
William Schooler also was a past interim president of the Dayton school board and current president of the local Baptist ministers union.
He taught in the Dayton school district in the 1970s and served as a principal in the Jefferson Township district for nearly two decades, according to the Daily News. He also held other positons with community organizations and local governments, including serving as a certified city of Dayton mediator.
"He had deep roots in the community," a friend, Ronnie Moreland, told the newspaper.
Dayton City Commissioner Joey Williams told the Daily News he had discussed with Schooler ways to reduce violence in the community.
"For him to be a victim of violence is just extremely saddening," Williams said.
