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Pastor who shot wife at hotel constantly beat and threatened to kill her: report
By Leonardo Blair,
Christian Post
Danny Prenell Jr. (L), 25, is senior pastor of Bright Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Pineville, Louisiana, where he serves with his wife, Gabrielle Prenell (R), 27. |
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.
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.
The Hampton Inn & Suites McComb, in McComb, Miss. | Screenshot/Google
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.
Bright Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Pineville, La. | Screenshot/Google
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.”
Utterly insane!
Texas pastor pleads guilty to possession of child sex abuse images
July 3, 2023, 8:32 AM PDT / Updated July 3, 2023, 12:05 PM PDT
By Julianne McShane, NBC News
A Texas pastor pleaded guilty to an enhanced charge of possession of child sex abuse images after he admitted having downloaded some of the materials at his church, according to federal prosecutors and court documents.
David Lloyd Walther, 57, "knowingly searched for, downloaded, distributed and possessed" child sex abuse images, some of which depicted prepubescent minors, on a peer-to-peer file sharing network while he was the pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Round Rock, a city 18 miles north of Austin, the U.S. attorney's office for Western Texas said Thursday.
Walther was arrested Nov. 9 after a search of his home and car turned up two large computer hard drives with more than 100,000 images and more than 5,000 videos of child sex abuse material, the U.S. attorney's office said.
He was released on home detention with GPS monitoring on Nov. 17 and was prohibited from using any computers or having any contact with minors.
He pleaded guilty in federal court in Austin on June 27, court records show.
Walther could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, the U.S. attorney’s office said.
It was not immediately clear when he would be sentenced. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office said a sentencing date had not yet been scheduled.
In a statement, Worth Carroll, an attorney representing Walther, said: “David’s guilty plea is the next step in the healing process after he experienced horrendous childhood abuse where 'trusted adults' and the system repeatedly failed to protect him. Since his arrest, David and his family have courageously worked to confront his own abuse, address how he was neglected and abused, and begin making amends for the harm he has caused. I am proud of him, encouraged by the work he has done, and amazed by the love and compassion of his family.”
Representatives of Faith Baptist Church could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Court documents outlining the disturbing allegations say Walther downloaded some of the materials to a computer when he was at the church. The complaint alleges he also downloaded other child sex abuse materials to a computer at his residence in Georgetown, about 10 miles north of Round Rock.
When investigators searched Walther's residence after they obtained federal search warrants, he allegedly admitted, among other things, "that he had a pornography addiction and would often go through cycles of downloading and viewing pornography depicting both adults and minors" but said he did not know he was sharing the child sex abuse files on the peer-to-peer network, according to the criminal complaint.
Walther also allegedly admitted that "he would download child pornography files, but would often feel guilty and go through a ‘purging’ of files, i.e., deleting the images and associated files, because he knew it was wrong," adding that he had last deleted such files Nov. 8, the night before authorities served the search warrants, the complaint says. He apologized for his actions, it says.
Does that mean he might have had 200,000 images and 10,000 videos if he hadn't deleted some?
In a statement Walther filed with the court the day after his arrest, he wrote that he was "ashamed and repulsed by my actions and behavior" and that he considers himself a pedophile. He wrote that he estimates he first viewed child sex abuse images when he was 10 years old and that he started accessing such materials regularly about eight years before his arrest.
He also appeared to endorse his own detention: "If there is no proven and accepted method to help with my addiction to child pornography, then I should be separated from society forever," Walther wrote.
Walther also filed a statement Nov. 10 admitting that he had been "grooming" an unidentified minor or minors "for sexual conduct or activity in the future."
It would be nice to say that it's good that he didn't actually sexually abuse any children, if that is true, but with over 100,000 images and 5,000 videos, he certainly encouraged the marketplace for feinds who abuse children and video it.
It's good that he is remorseful and wants to be separated from society. He may yet be delivered from this present darkness. But it is a shame that no one in his church or family had the discernment to notice that he had serious problems. He failed his church and his church failed him, and they all failed God.
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