--- description: James Junior Minter opened fire at a church in Selma, Ala. title: 'Hero' Pastor and Churchgoers Disarmed Selma Church Shooter image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'Hero' Pastor and Churchgoers Disarmed Selma Church Shooter by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 21, 2015 1:47 PM CUT by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 21, 2015 1:47 PM CUT A pastor and members of his congregation have been hailed as “heroes” for [disarming an alleged gunman ](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/selma-church-shooter-allegedly-fires-girlfriend-infant-pastor-n430676 "undefined")who police say attempted to kill his girlfriend and infant son inside an Alabama church. Pastor Earl Carswell was shot and injured while subduing 26-year-old suspect James Junior Minter, who allegedly opened fire Sunday at the Oasis Tabernacle Church in Selma. Minter — whose girlfriend and 1-month-old son also were injured — fled the church but was later arrested not far away. “There were several heroes in there,” Lt. Curtis Muhannad, of the Selma Police Department, told reporters. “It takes a lot when you have… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/selma-pastor-congregation-are-heroes-disarming-gunman-cops-n430786?cid=par-time-article%5F20150921 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4042450/selma-church-shooting-heroes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4042450/selma-church-shooting-heroes/"},"headline":"'Hero' Pastor and Churchgoers Disarmed Selma Church Shooter","datePublished":"2015-09-21T13:47:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:06:34.546Z","description":"James Junior Minter opened fire at a church in Selma, Ala.","url":"https://time.com/4042450/selma-church-shooting-heroes/","keywords":["Crime","alabama","shooting","selma"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4042450/selma-church-shooting-heroes/","name":"'Hero' Pastor and Churchgoers Disarmed Selma Church Shooter"}}]}] ```