Shooting During Wedding at New Hampshire Church Leaves at Least 2 People Wounded

Wire Service
By Wire Service
October 12, 2019US News
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Shooting During Wedding at New Hampshire Church Leaves at Least 2 People Wounded
Police stand outside the New England Pentecostal Church after reports of a shooting in Pelham, N.H. on Oct. 12, 2019. (Siobhan Lopez/WMUR-TV via AP)

A wedding was underway at a New Hampshire church when a shooting Saturday morning wounded at least two people, Pelham Police Chief Joseph Roark said.

A suspect has been arrested in the shooting at the New England Pentecostal Church, Roark said. He did not identify the suspect or provide a motive, saying the incident is still under investigation.

police outside church shooting
Police stand outside the New England Pentecostal Church after reports of a shooting in Pelham, N.H. on Oct. 12, 2019. (Siobhan Lopez/WMUR-TV via AP)

Roark confirmed two people with gunshot wounds were taken to hospitals, but their conditions were not immediately known. There were no fatalities, he said.

Local and state authorities, including the New Hampshire State Police and representatives from the state Attorney General’s Office, were on the scene, he said.

Lowell General Hospital has received one patient from the incident, hospital spokesperson Angela Strunk told CNN. There is no word on the extent of the individual’s injuries, Strunk said. The hospital is not expecting any other patients from the incident.

Memorial Service Cancelled Following Shooting

A memorial service scheduled for early Saturday afternoon at the church was canceled after the shooting, attendee Geraldo Pagan said.

“We just came and we found all this police, all this chaos here, and they tell us that the activity will be canceled,” Pagan told news media outside the church.

Parishioners worship during a mass to celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St Paul Cathedral
Parishioners worship during a mass. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

The service was for Luis Garcia, 60, a minister at the New England Pentecostal Ministries for six years, who was shot and killed Oct. 1, according to WMUR. The affiliate reported he was shot inside a home in Londonderry and that a suspect was arrested.

Pelham is a town of about 12,000 people 40 miles north of Boston. It is located between two larger cities, Nashua to the west and Salem to the east, and also borders Massachusetts to the south.

Pelham began primarily as a farming community until World War ll, when growth in population and industry took hold.

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