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Official: Ill. Gunman Planned 'Death Day'

Church Shooting Suspect Had Lyme Disease

UPDATED: 12:52 am CDT March 10, 2009

An Illinois prosecutor said the man charged with gunning down an Illinois preacher during a church service had marked the day as "death day" in a planner found in the suspect's home.

And Madison County State's Attorney William Mudge said Terry Sedlacek carried enough ammunition to kill 30 people.

The 27-year-old Troy, Ill. man was charged Monday with first-degree murder and aggravated battery.

Terry Sedlacek has been ordered held without bond as he remains hospitalized in serious condition. His family said he had once suffered bouts of erratic behavior after contracting Lyme disease.

Authorities said that after the shooting he pulled out a knife and stabbed himself in the throat while being wrestled to the ground by two worshippers, who also were wounded.

One of the men was still in serious condition Monday; the other was treated and released.

Authorities said they don't know whether the Rev. Fred Winters and Sedlacek knew each other.

Sedlacek was featured last year in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article in which his mother said the disease left lesions on his brain and that doctors had diagnosed him as mentally ill before discovering the disease.

But one expert on Lyme disease discounted the likelihood it have been the cause of the shooting.

"Lyme disease doesn't cause people to shoot people," said Dr. Eugene Shapiro, a Lyme disease specialist at Yale University.

He recalled an ax attack in Connecticut in which the perpetrator "pleaded Lyme disease defense. That didn't fly."

The most common Lyme symptoms, caused by bacteria spread by the tiny deer tick, include a bullseye-shaped skin rash and fever. Most people recover with antibiotics, although some symptoms can persist.

Sedlacek's attorney said the family is very sorry about Winters' death.

Murder Charge

Stephanee Smith of the Madison County state's attorney's office said earlier Monday that Sedlacek, 27, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery. Smith said prosecutors would not yet comment on a motive.

Winters was shot to death during his Sunday morning sermon at the sprawling First Baptist Church in Maryville. The first of the gunman's four rounds was deflected by the pastor's Bible.

Winters was being remembered as smart, dedicated and easy to relate to. So much so that everyone simply called him "Pastor Fred."

A colleague of the Illinois pastor urged mourners at a prayer service Sunday evening to be resilient.

Hundreds of people cried and cradled Bibles while remembering Winters. They gathered at a church in Edwardsville. Both Edwardsville and Maryville are near St. Louis.

During the prayer service, First Baptist Pastor Mark Jones did not mention the suspected gunman.

Jones described the attack as from "the forces of hell."

Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said the gunman strode down the aisle of the church, and then briefly spoke with Winters, who was elevated on a platform. Trent said the gunman then pulled out a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and began firing until it jammed.

There were about 150 people present, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

A church spokesman said Winters was the driving force at the church since becoming senior pastor in 1987, when average attendance was around 30 people. Under his guidance, the congregation swelled by hundreds.

One church member said Winters was "extremely likable," adding she can't imagine him having any enemies.

Another member said: "Beyond everything else, he had a love for God and a love for people."

He is survived by his wife, Cindy, and two children, Alysia Grace and Cassidy Hope.

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