A Louisiana pastor, Danny Prenell Jr, 25 shot his wife before attempting suicide in front of their three children inside a hotel in Mississippi on Wednesday, Dailymail reports.
Before the shooting, he was the lead pastor at the Bright Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Pineville, Louisiana.
Multiple Facebook posts identify his wife as Gabby Prenell, 27. The couple have three children together.
In a Facebook post that was sent from the Hampton Inn hotel where the shooting took place, Prenell captioned a picture with his wife and kids: ‘I may not be a perfect man, but I’ll always be a family man.’
A picture from the scene published by The Enterprise-Journal showed blood-stained floors close to the elevators in the hotel’s lobby in McComb, Mississippi. The shooting took place around 3:30pm. Prenell is alleged to have shot his wife twice and then himself, investigators said.
Authorities have not commented on Prenell or his wife’s condition. A Facebook post from a friend of Gabby’s said that the mother was ‘still fighting’ in an intensive care unit.
Both were rushed to the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Their children are in the custody of child protective services.
According to Prenell’s Facebook page, he’s a former sheriff’s deputy with the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Department up until as recently as December 2022.
On April 6, Prenell paid tribute to his wife on her birthday calling her ‘my queen’ and ‘the woman that I love and owe my life to.
‘I’ve watched your growth on all levels and you’re a great mother, wife, and my best friend. I’m proud to be your husband because you are a woman of class, discretion, integrity, and most importantly….you’re a woman of God,’ he added.
The pastor regularly spoke about his self-growth in Facebook posts.
‘At the age of 25, I often hear that I’m far beyond my years. However, I never get satisfied with where I am….I’m constantly looking for more,’ he wrote on April 16.
‘People with small minds will keep you locked up into what can fit into their heads. The God I serve doesn’t have a limit, and I’m staying faithful because I know my cup shall run over,’ he added.