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Gay Affirming Church Shooting In Stone Mountain: Police Have 3 Suspects in Custody

Pastor Kenneth Samuels is the pastor of one of most popular gay affirming churches in (Stone Mountain) Atlanta, Victory for the World Church.  As the story is developing, there has been two people shot dead and two more injured outside of Victory for the World Church.

The police authorities have stated three suspects are in custody at this time.

As reported earlier, the shootings occurred at Victory For The World Church on North Hairston Road near Stone Mountain, where a 1 p.m. funeral for Ryan Devon Guider of Decatur was taking place, according to DeKalb County police.

“We were ready to go to the burial, and I heard pow pow pow pow,” mourner Regina Sharp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I thank God I made it out alive.”

No immediate word on what started the shootings, or whether any others were injured.

The chaotic church scene on North Hairston Road in front of the church was blocked both ways Thursday after the shooting.

Photo of Ryan Guider's funeral

Guider, 19, was fatally shot May 26. Authorities said his killer was Marcus D. Ventress, 28, who allegedly shot Guider in retaliation for burglarizing Ventress’ home.

Law enforcement sources told investigators that Guider “burglarized the home of Ventress , stealing jewelry, cash and drugs and punching Ventress’ mother,” DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Adrion Bell said Monday.

Ventress, who was considered armed and dangerous, was being sought in the shooting, and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said he was also wanted for aggravated assault on accusations he shot into an apartment in the 5800 block of Treecrest Parkway, thinking Guider lived there.

Ventress had multiple arrests between 2002 and 2009 in Elkhart County, Ind., about 125 miles southeast of Chicago, for charges that included attempted murder, drug possession, gambling and resisting arrest, according to Indiana jail records. He sent six years in prison on drug charges and was on parole and probation at the time of the DeKalb shooting, Bell said.  Source

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