Alabama man allegedly shoots his girlfriend, infant in church

A man has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly shot three people at an Alabama church—his girlfriend, her baby and the church pastor.

James Minter allegedly carried out the crime on Sunday morning at East Selma’s Oasis Tabernacle Church.

From the Associated Press:

The three victims were hospitalized but their conditions were not immediately known. [Dallas County District Attorney Michael] Jackson, however, said the woman — whom he described as Minter’s girlfriend — was shot in the face.

Jackson said the shooting stems from a domestic issue between Minter and the woman and that race was not a factor.

The Selma Times-Journal spoke to a police officer about the alleged crime:

[Lt. Curtis] Muhannad said Minter was sitting on the front row with his family when he started shooting. The female was shot in the face and the shoulder, the child was shot in the hand and the preacher was shot in the leg.

“He took a seat on the bench on the front row with his family, and then he just got into it, pulled a weapon and started shooting,” Muhannad said, adding the weapon Minter used was a handgun.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a group that compiles statistics on gun violence in America, there have been 37,698 shooting incidents, 9,471 deaths and 19,294 injuries from guns so far in 2015.

A recent study by the Huffington Post‘s Melissa Jeltsen found a strong link between domestic violence and gun crime:

We found that in 57 percent of mass shootings, the shooter targeted either a family member or an intimate partner. According to HuffPost’s analysis, 64 percent of mass shooting victims were women and children. That’s startling, since women typically make up only 15 percent of total gun violence homicide victims, and children only 7 percent.