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Church Local Mission Trip Team Witnesses Shooting
Category: Medical Information, Team Equipment
Pensacola, FL-A 17-year-old boy shot a man in the face Sunday afternoon as church members passed out food and water at an Escambia County mobile home park where water service was cut off, authorities said.
Jeffrey Kimbrough, 41, was still in critical condition at a local hospital this afternoon. The Pensacola man was shot about 3:30 p.m., not far from where church members had set up to grill hotdogs and give away water.
Peoples Water Service, which provides water for Heritage Oaks in the 1500 block of Gulf Beach Highway, cut off service early last week, according to park residents and Emerald Coast Utilities Authority spokeswoman Nathalie Bowers.
Peoples Water Service officials could not be reached Sunday for comment.
The shooting happened just as residents and members of the First Assembly of God had finished praying.
“It’s like it’s not real,” said Conchetta Thompson, 65, a resident of the mobile home park for about three years. “It’s like that just didn’t just happen. You hear something that is obviously a gunshot.”
A 17-year-old from Bay Minette, Ala., was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
The shooting stemmed from a dispute over a stolen wallet, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ted Roy said. Other details of the arrest were not available late Sunday.
Help arrives
Members of the First Assembly, located at Bayou Boulevard and 12th Avenue in Pensacola, began setting up at the mobile home park about 1:30 p.m.
Church members cooked hot dogs, gave away chips and bottled water and provided a case of water for each household. Residents estimated that about 100 people have been without water.
Church members and residents also sang and listened to Scripture readings.
Shelley Rutledge, a First Assembly youth pastor, said the shooting happened seconds after her husband finished the closing prayer.
“It had been peaceful and calm,” she said. “This just hurts my heart.”
Rutledge said when she opened her eyes after the prayer, she saw two men standing roughly 3 feet apart.
One of the men suddenly raised his hands as the other grabbed something, she said.
She said the second man’s back was to her, so she could not see what he had in his hand.
“When I heard the shot, the victim fell,” she said. “His daughter came screaming, running to where he was.”
Rutledge said there were about 12 children, including her two children, where she and the other church members were serving food. She said she gathered the children and told them to get into the church van.
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