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Pastor exploring additional safety measures following shooting of 18-year-old at church gym
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ST. GEORGE — Court documents filed today detail the moments that led up to the death of 18-year-old Christopher Joe at Grace Life Fellowship Church.
According to the arrest warrant, witnesses say Joe and 51-year-old Lee Johnson exchanged words—mainly centered around the basketball game. No threats of violence were made, and no fighting took place between the two men.
But they claim that after the argument, when Joe turned away, Johnson allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Joe in the back of the head.
He was brought to the hospital, where he died two days later.
"For 20 years, we've not even had a fist fight as an incident," Lead Pastor of Grace Life Fellowship, Tim Chalas said.
Chalas says the basketball games held at the church gym are a form of outreach. They allow the games to take place there, but it is not advertised by the church.
He says the church currently has security in place, but following the incident, they did call their safety company to assess safety measures and see what additional options are available.
"This was an isolated incident that happened. It's tragic, it's senseless, it's sad. But, we are looking at all options moving forward, cause obviously, even though we are a safe place, obviously, after this, we went to look at everything that's happening," Chalas said.
Chalas says he's been in constant contact with Joe's family since the shooting.
"We're grieving with the family. We're grieving with the community that's seen too many of these senseless, tragic incidents, and I hope the community comes together so that we can work together in unity and work together with one another to see how we can prevent this," he said.
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