ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — A man accused of trying to shoot a pastor during a livestreamed sermon on Sunday used the same gun to kill his cousin hours earlier, according to police.
Bernard Junior Polite, 26, is accused of shooting Derek Polite, 56, at the home they shared in North Braddock. Allegheny County Police Superintendent Chris Kearns said a witness saw Bernard Polite on the home’s porch a short while before another witness heard what sounded like a gunshot around 10 a.m. Sunday.
The circumstances leading up to the shooting were not immediately clear.
[ Man arrested after pointing gun at pastor during sermon in suburban Pittsburgh church ]
“There’s no indication there was any kind of disturbance in the residence,” Kearns said Tuesday. “We saw no evidence that there was any type of altercation. It appears the victim was shot as he was walking up the steps from the first floor to the second.”
The shooting happened hours before police said Bernard Polite tried to shoot Pastor Glenn Germany as he was delivering a sermon to about 25 parishioners at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church, WPXI reported. Germany told the news station that before the incident, Bernard Polite stood, smiled at him and walked to the church’s front pew.
“Then all of a sudden, that’s when I see him pull the gun and all I could do is duck and try to get out of the way,” he said, according to WPXI, adding that he heard the gun click.
The gun jammed, and no bullet was fired. Deacon Clarence McCallister, who was manning the livestream, was able to tackle Bernard Polite, and he and Germany wrestled the gun away from him, WPXI reported.
“He said, ‘The spirits were in my mind,’” Germany told the news station. “‘They got in my mind and told me to shoot the pastor.’”
Family members told the news station that Bernard Polite has schizophrenia. Derek Polite’s twin sister said that her brother and Bernard Polite were close. Although they were cousins, authorities said Bernard Polite called Derek Polite his uncle due to their age difference.
Family members found Derek Polite dead on Sunday afternoon after they learned about the attempted shooting at the church and went to check on him, according to police.
Bernard Polite was charged after police “got a ballistic match from evidence recovered at the scene and from the victim to the gun that he had in his hand during the incident at the church in the afternoon,” Kearns said.
Bernard Polite faces charges of criminal homicide in his cousin’s death and attempted homicide in the incident at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church, according to WPXI.