Dale Holloway in an undated booking photo.Photo:Pelham Police Department via AP
Pelham Police Department via AP
The bishop was pronouncing Claire McMullen and Mark Castiglione husband and wife whenshots rang out— one bullet hitting the bride in the arm, another piercing Bishop Stanley Choate in the chest.
But the October 2019 shooting wasn’t the first involving the New England Pentecostal Ministries in Pelham, N.H.
Just 11 days earlier, the church’s pastor, Luis Garcia, was fatally shot inside his home, in a case that prosecutors told a jury at the start of trial yesterday was connected to the nuptial gunfire,the Associated Press reports.
From the beginning, police believed the shooting was targeted,PEOPLE previously reported, with Pelham Police Chief Joseph Roark saying the shooting did “not seem to be a random event.”
The groom’s son, Brandon Castiglione, had been arrested before the wedding, charged with murdering Garcia, according to the AP. (This August, he was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 42 years for the pastor’s killing, according to the outlet. The son reportedly attended the church, but law enforcementnever determined a reasonfor the pastor’s fatal shooting.)
Brandon Castiglione.Londonderry Police
Londonderry Police
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The jury watched the couple’s wedding video Wednesday and heard from the videographer,ABC’s WMUR9 reported.
Claiming Holloway was the shooter, wedding videographer James Merchant alleged how “he pointed [the gun] at the bishop’s upper left chest,” per the outlet, which is livestreaming the trial.
“I feared for my life," Merchant said.
Bishop Stanley Choate.New England Pentecostal Ministries
New England Pentecostal Ministries
Holloway — who is already serving a state prison sentence of 7 ½ to 15 years for assaulting his lawyer — is now representing himself against attempted murder charges, the AP reports. The 41-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the charges and told the judge that he will argue an insanity defense, according to the outlet.
“You have heard both the judge and state say that I don’t have to prove my innocence– that I am innocent until proven guilty of these charges,” Holloway told the jury in opening statements Tuesday, per the AP. “But I can and I will present the actual, factual truth just because I am not guilty of these charges.”
source: people.com
