Two suburban pastors recounted the terrifying moments when a hail of gunfire erupted, injuring one of their own members on Sunday just as their church ended services in South Holland.
Love & Deliverance International Ministries had just wrapped up its service at the South Holland Community Center, and members were leaving the building, when an estimated 20 shots were fired.
"My wife, she was running for her life," said Pastor Pirsia Allen. "I was running for my life. I got scraped up. I fell to the ground, was trying to run for cover...just a terrible scene."
Allen said while taking cover, he saw multiple individuals shooting, with bullets rapidly being fired. One of the church's members was standing at a vehicle nearby when he was struck by a bullet, Allen said.
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The member, who has served with the church for more than a decade, was rushed to an area hospital and taken into surgery.
"I'm very devastated to see him laying on the ground, bleeding with a bullet hole, crying, just calling on Jesus, and I'm just praying for a great outcome," said Apostle Dr. Corine H. Allen, founder and overseer of Love & Deliverance International Ministries and Pastor Pirsia Allen's wife.
Corine Allen told NBC 5 that she was "just praying and thanking God it wasn't worse than what it is."
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"We hear so many reports of violence in our neighborhoods and things like that, so we're just grateful and we're just praying that God's going to bring him through," she stated.
The Illinois State Police was called in to process the scene for evidence.
While the village said the suspect's vehicle may be from Chicago, additional suspect information hadn't been provided as of late Sunday.
