A New Orleans pastor shot a burglar in the head Wednesday when two criminals reportedly tried to burglarize his church.
Pastor W.L.T. Littleton hit one suspect in the head and fired at another outside his Greater morning Star Baptist Church around 5 p.m., The Times-Picayune reports.
The investigation is ongoing, but according to church members, Littleton fired in self defense. Micquell Dillon, 25, said she heard eight gunshots, then saw Littleton in his Lincoln Navigator pursue two men in a pickup truck.
Police took possession of the bullet-riddled truck. It’s back window was shattered and there was a large dent in the truck bed, the Times reports. The wounded suspect, 50, was reported in stable condition at a nearby hospital. The other, 34, was arrested on charges of copper theft.
Littleton surrendered his firearm and was driven away in an unmarked police car, but was not immediately arrested.
Dillon and other people at the scene praised Littleton, who is a former New Orleans police officer and has been with the church for 20 years. Littleton often gave people rides, attended court hearings and helped others in need pay their bills, his niece Tiecha Keiffer told the Times.
“If the robbery suspects would have asked him for money … he would have given it to them,” she said. “That’s just the kind of man he is.”