Pastor shot in mouth at Memphis church as gunmen steal Sunday School teacher’s car

A beloved pastor is now fighting for his life at a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, after he was shot in the mouth outside his church on Sunday as he tried stopping thieves from stealing a Sunday School teacher’s car, witnesses say.

“Keep Pastor Clemmie Livingston Jr In Prayer He Was Shot At Our Church This Morning... Right Now He Is In Surgery May God Touch The Doctors Hand .... My Dad Has Always Been A Fighter And I'm Praying He Keep On Keeping On,” a frantic message on New Zionfield Baptist Church’s Facebook page said on Sunday night.

The Memphis Police Department told Fox 13 that 70-year-old Clemmie Livingston Jr. was shot just after 9 a.m. Sunday as he came out of his church before the start of his Sunday morning service.

Get Our Latest News for FREE

Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

Subscribe

“The victim was shot when he came out of the church as the suspects were stealing a 2019 silver Chevrolet Corvette. As the suspects fled the scene in the stolen vehicle, they fired shots, striking the victim,” a statement from the police said. “A second person who was outside of the church at the time the car was stolen returned fire after the suspects shot first. The victim was in stable condition at the last update. The vehicle has not been recovered at this time. This is an ongoing investigation.”

Police said they received a call at around 9:13 a.m., and when they arrived at the church, they found Livingston in critical condition. There is also little information available on the suspects who were seen wearing black hoodies, eyewitnesses told police.

“My grandad got shot in the mouth,” the pastor’s 17-year-old grandson, Kavion Woodin, told Fox 13. “This should be one of the things that wakes up Memphis to show that nobody’s safe. A church is one of the safest places you should be at.”

Woodin further told Nexstar’s WREG that Livingston had planned to preach a sermon titled “Another Chance,” because he believes in giving chances to people.

“Somebody tried to take one of the church member’s cars, and my granddaddy stepped up,” Woodin told WREG. “He feared no evil. He came out the church to protect a car because he feared no evil.”

The pastor’s distraught grandson says his family now wants to end gun violence in their community because his grandfather did not deserve to be attacked the way he was.

“He was a man of giving, willingness, kindness, compassion, and he was a man that never did wrong towards nobody,” Woodin said.

“Honestly, I’m sick and tired of losing people to gun violence and cars. I’ve lost seven friends due to gun violence. I’ve lost two friends to cars, and I’m nothing but 17,” he added. “It’s time to stop the violence. It’s time to stop the robbing, stop the killing. It’s time to put the guns down.”