By EARYEL BOWLEG
Tribune Staff Reporter
ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
A SHOOTING incident took place at Grace Community Church in Marathon on Thursday evening resulting in two men being taken to hospital.
Details of the incident were outlined in a private note from Pastor Lyall Bethel to the membership and leaked to social media. The pastor confirmed to The Tribune that the incident occurred.
According to the letter, the shooting happened at about 8.32 pm “when a young boy ran up on several of the young men from the neighbourhood who were playing basketball, and discharged his firearm some six times.”
Pastor Bethel said in the note that two men were hit and taken to hospital, adding that security cameras were able to capture several angles and the footage was turned over to the police.
“What made the incident so alarming is the many different functions that were going on at the time, the men’s chorale pnd Pastor Carlyle’s small group were meeting in the Herbert Treco Auditorium and the youth Praise team were practising in church,” he continued.
“We believe that this incident is probably an isolated incident, but we will be shutting down the basketball court on a temporary basis so that there will be no gathering of young people there until such time as the police and your leadership believe it advisable to do so.
“All the pastors, and several of the Elders and Deacons and other leading men of the Church were there before or shortly after to assist the police with their initial investigations.”
Pastor Bethel has insisted that the church remains safe despite the incident.
