Gunmen kill Pastor in Brazil

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

BRAZIL (ANS) -- Police in Brazil say two gunmen have fatally wounded an evangelical pastor at his church in the city of Belo Horizonte.

via BBC

According to a story by BBC News, the gunmen reportedly entered the city's Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, and shot him in the head before fleeing by car.

Police said there was no evidence the men were robbers. The pastor, Charles Vidal de Souza, 34, died shortly after arriving at hospital.

It is not clear whether the pastor was the intended target of the assault.

He was found in an office in the church where there were signs of a struggle, according to police.

According to the BBC, the killing occurred in a middle-class neighborhood of Belo Horizonte, the state capital of Minas Gerais.

The city is around 400 miles south-east of the capital, Brasilia.

Gun violence is high in Brazil, but attempts at banning the sale of guns have failed in the past.

The BBC said a 2005 referendum on the issue was defeated by a sizeable majority.