Ohio Church Shooting on Easter Leads to Arrest
An Ohio church shooting has the community of Ashtabula on edge after a man shot his father after an Easter service yesterday. Thankfully no one else was hurt during the shooting, and police have the suspect in custody.
Richard Riddle, 52, attended the Hiawatha Church of God in Christ and was reportedly shot by his son soon after the service ended. People inside the church immediately called police, leading to fears of a mass shooting; several police agencies responded to the calls of distress.
"People pushed me into a back office and said, 'Somebody's here with a gun,'" the Rev. David Howard Jr. told The Plain Dealer newspaper. "The guy was outside hollering and acting crazy."
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"I don't have a clue," Howard said when asked if he knew of any possible motive. "We don't know anything."
Normally church attendance is higher at Easter, which could have led to more injuries or loss. It appears as though this was a targeted, planned attack meant for Riddle, though police have not confirmed any motive from the son.
The suspect, identified as Rashad Riddle, took to the pulpit after the shooting and began speaking, preaching, until officers took him into custody.
"They proceeded to tell everyone to come in and get down and get underneath the pews and stay down. The shooter came in our sanctuary, holding up his gun in the air, saying, 'This is the will of Allah,'" administrator Sean Adams told Erie TV News.
"My real concern was that we had a lot of kids here. What was he going to do when he stopped talking? A lot of kids came because we had an Easter program today," Howard told the News Herald.
