(May God be with the victims and the parish at this difficult time. - Fr. Tom)
http://www.detnews.com/2003/metro/0303/31/d01-123167.htm Police arrest church gunman
Killing shakes parish in Rochester Hills
By Francis X. Donnelly / The Detroit News
Brandy Baker / The Detroit News
ROCHESTER HILLS -- A priest was about to deliver communion Sunday in crowded St. Paul's Albanian Catholic Church when two shots rang out near the back of the sanctuary.
As churchgoers dove to the floor and ran for the door, a man accompanied by his children fired shots at a man several pews in front of him, killing him, witnesses said.
The crowd scrambled away from the gunman, knocking one another over as they ran for the doors. Some climbed through windows, breaking them and cutting themselves, law enforcement officials said.
Other men jumped on the gunman, separating him from his 9mm semiautomatic pistol.
By the time the church had emptied, seven people were injured, mostly from cuts caused by the glass. No one else was struck by gunfire.
And the whole of St. Paul's was left badly shaken.
"I have no feelings at the moment," church member Prel Dedvukaj said. "It's impossible to say anything."
Killed in the shooting was Gjek Isufaj, 38, of Madison Heights. Authorities identified the shooter as Gjon Pepaj, 38, of Rochester Hills, who lives two miles from the church.
Pepaj was expected to be charged today or Tuesday, the Oakland County Sheriff's Department said.
The two men had once been friends but the gunman had become angry at the victim six years ago and the anger never abated, witnesses said. The reason for the feud wasn't immediately known.
The shooter had been sitting in a wooden pew several rows behind the victim when he fired two shots in the ceiling in an apparent attempt to get a clear shot, witnesses said.
The two men were just several feet apart during the shooting, which happened just after 1 p.m.
The gunman, who had been accompanied to the church by his two children, a 13-year-old girl and 11-year-old boy, had apparently been attending the service at the time he spotted his rival, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
It wasn't clear whether the gunman had happened upon the victim at the church or whether he had followed him there.
As the gunman fired his weapon into the ceiling, he apparently yelled, "Here I am," said church member Luigi Gjokaj. The gunman then fired several shots at the victim.
When Gjokaj first heard the shots, he thought it was some type of terrorist act.
"I never thought in my life I would ever see something like this," he said.
Bouchard said it was a miracle that no one else was struck by gunfire in the crowded church. About 1,000 were in the large church at the time.
The victim was shot three or four times, Bouchard said. In all, at least eight shots were fired.
"It's sad that someone would do this anywhere," the sheriff said. "But to have it happen in a church makes it worse."
Albanian-Americans worried about how the shooting would reflect upon them.
Gjokaj said it was an isolated incident and shouldn't be used to portray all Albanians as hotheads in violent pursuit of one another.
The church released a statement trying to distance itself from the gunman and the victim. It said neither man belonged to the church.
"This incident was the result of a personal dispute between individuals," according to the statement by the church pastor, the Rev. Anton Kqira.
St. Paul's, whose membership comprises 1,000 families, is one of the largest Albanian churches in the United States.
Metro Detroit is home to 40,000 Albanians with many living in Detroit and Sterling Heights, church members said.
The church, founded in 1981, had been located in Warren but moved to the more open spaces of Rochester Hills last year. The cement and wooden sanctuary, which sits on 30 acres, still looks like it just opened.
Friends and family members of people who attended the services waited in the cold near the church's driveway for news about the condition of their loved ones.
They weren't allowed on the church property until the churchgoers had been interviewed by the Sheriff's detectives.
Bouchard said detectives had recovered two guns from the church. One was the gunman's while the source of the second was unknown, he said.
Eight shell casings were retrieved from the floor of the church, Bouchard said. Deputies also discovered a second gun magazine in the gunman's pocket.
The churchgoers who suffered cuts from the windows as they fled the shooting were treated at local hospitals and released, hospital officials said. One of the worshippers was injured while quelling the gunman.
You can reach Francis X. Donnelly at (313) 223-4186 or fdonnelly@detnews.com.
