A pastor and his wife were killed by two gunmen outside their home in the Mexican city of Irapuato early Thursday, shortly after he officiated at a funeral. The pastor, Ángel González, died at the scene after being shot, Calvary Chapel Magazine reported. His wife, Irán Montes, was wounded in the same attack and died in an ambulance before she reached a hospital.
González led Calvary Chapel Irapuato, a congregation in Guanajuato state that belongs to a California-founded network of Evangelical churches. The attack happened around 1 a.m. in the Villas El Dorado neighborhood, Milenio reported. Police told Evangélico Digital that a man got out of another car and fired from about a meter away at the couple, who were in their vehicle near the garage, first at González and then at Montes.
Local media reported the couple was returning from a wake. Municipal police detained a man as a suspected perpetrator, whose name has not been released, La Silla Rota reported. Authorities have not announced a motive. At the time of this report, relatives and friends are awaiting official findings from Mexican authorities, and the available information indicates a robbery had turned deadly.
The congregation is heartbroken, and Calvary Chapel families elsewhere in Mexico are in mourning, the magazine said. It asked for prayers for the couple’s children and the church, quoted a verse from 2 Timothy and said it had no further information.
Guanajuato, Sinaloa, Michoacan and Jalisco are among the states where several drug cartels operate and where violence tied to organized crime has continued despite a fall in recorded homicides nationwide, according to The Associated Press. The Open Doors ministry ranks Mexico 30th on its World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the worst persecution.