A wedding ceremony in New Hampshire was blackened by the sudden assault of an armed man who barged into the church and opened fire.
Several shots managed to hit the bride, Claire McMullen, 60, and the bishop, Stanley Choate, 75, but the man was quickly tackled by guests who brought him to the ground at the New England Pentecostal Ministries in Pelham.
Dale Holloway is now facing charges for first-degree assault after the incident, and authorities are reportedly investigating if the attack has any relation to another fatal shooting that happened earlier in the month.
Thankfully, nobody was killed in the attack, but several people needed hospitalization in the aftermath.
When authorities arrived at the scene, they found the gunman subdued and under control by multiple guests, and the situation was relatively easy to deal with, according to reports.
The guests had done a good job tackling the suspect and preventing him from harming anyone else. Many were treated for various injuries that they had sustained during the attack, but nothing serious, reports state.
McMullen, who suffered injuries to the arm, was taken to a local hospital. Choate, who was shot in the chest, is said to be in serious condition.
The groom, Mark Castiglione, 60, who was hit in the head, was quickly released from the hospital.
While some initially believed that the attack was random and indiscriminate, that does not appear to be the case, according to more recent reports.
Authorities are now apparently investigating the possibility that this may have been a specifically directed assault, though the possible motivations of the gunman remain unclear.
The groom’s grandson, Brandon Castiglione, has been accused of killing pastor Luis Garcia who worked at the same church where the new shooting took place. Garcia’s body was discovered at a home in Londonderry on October 1st.
Benjamin Agati, a senior assistant attorney general, was asked about a possible link between the two incidents, he said this: “We are certainly looking into that right now … whether there is, in fact, a clear connection between these two events, that is something we’re trying to put together.”
A memorial service for Garcia, 60, was set to take place at the same church after the wedding.
A lot is under speculation right now in general, and it does not look like the truth is going to surface anytime soon, as the situation is quite confusing in many aspects, according to official reports.
