Pastor who shot wife at hotel constantly beat and threatened to kill her: report

Danny Prenell Jr., the 25-year-old senior pastor of Bright Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Pineville, Louisiana, who shot his wife and then himself at a hotel in McComb, Mississippi, in the presence of their three children last Wednesday, had a history of violence against his wife prior to the shooting, court records show.

Court records cited by KALB say Prenell’s wife, Gabrielle Prenell, 27, who remains hospitalized in stable condition, filed a “petition for protection from abuse” against Prenell in Rapides Parish in 2016, noting that “I’ve been constantly getting beaten by my husband and I fear for the life of myself and my unborn child.”

Gabrielle Prenell also alleged in her petition for protection that her husband often pointed guns and threatened to kill her, the KALB report says.

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Prenell, who became the pastor of Bright Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in January 2022, was serving as a deputy with the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office until he resigned last December. He is now facing charges of aggravated domestic violence and disturbance of a business for the June 21 shooting.

Investigators say Prenell shot his wife twice at the Hampton Inn & Suites McComb, in Mississippi, before shooting himself once around 3:30 p.m., WGNO reported.

Vickie Carter, chief detective working on the case at the McComb Police Department, told The Christian Post Monday that Gabrielle Prenell was shot in the stomach and her arm by her husband. She remains hospitalized in stable condition.  

“She’s still hospitalized. He’s out of the hospital and he has been charged with aggravated domestic violence and disturbance of a business at this point. It could be more charges later, but that’s what he is being charged with at this time,” Carter said.

The detective said because of her condition, investigators have not yet been able to interview the pastor’s wife.

Carter added that Pastor Prenell, who was treated and released from the hospital into police custody, suffered one gunshot wound to the right side of his abdomen. She further stated that she could not reveal anything about what he has revealed to the police about what happened because the investigation is still active.

Calls to Bright Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church went unanswered on Tuesday.

A representative at the Hampton Inn & Suites McComb declined comment when contacted by CP Monday, but a photograph of the crime scene taken by the Enterprise-Journal shows police tape, towels, a pillow and what appears to be blood in a hallway on the first floor of the hotel.

Just two days before he shot his wife and himself while they were at the hotel, Prenell admitted to being flawed but still favored by God in a post on Facebook.

“I may not be a perfect man, but I’ll always be a family man,” he said with a picture of his smiling wife and their three young children who are in the custody of CPS.

The young pastor who maintains a very active presence on social media said he is frequently told that he is wise beyond his years.

“At the age of 25, I often hear that I’m far beyond my years. However, I never get satisfied with where I am….I’m constantly looking for more,” he wrote in a statement on Facebook in April. “People with small minds will keep u locked up into what can fit into their heads. The God I serve doesn’t have a limit, and I’m staying faithful because I know my cup shall run over.”

Earlier that same month, in another statement celebrating the birthday of his wife and one of their children, Pastor Prenell called her his “queen” and “the woman that I love and owe my life to.”

“First let me say to my Queen, my wife, the woman that I love and owe my life to…I love you so much and I’m grateful God has allowed you another year. I’ve watched your growth on all levels and you’re a great mother, wife, and my best friend,” he wrote. “I’m proud to be your husband because you are a woman of class, discretion, integrity, and most importantly…you’re a woman of God. I pray God continues to allow you many more birthdays because I honestly do not know what I’d do without you.”