A bride and bishop were shot at a N.H. wedding. The alleged shooter is the stepson of a recently murdered minister.
Here's what to know.
Days after gunfire erupted during a wedding ceremony at a New Hampshire church, authorities continue to investigate the motive for the act of violence that injured the bride, groom, and bishop.A 37-year-old man, Dale Holloway, is facing multiple charges in connection with the shooting in Pelham, New Hampshire, including attempted murder and first-degree assault. Holloway waived his arraignment Tuesday in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua, requesting an evidentiary bail hearing that will take place on Oct. 22, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports. Until then, he is being held at Hillsborough County House of Corrections in Manchester.Authorities have said the wedding guests in the church tackled Holloway to the ground after he began firing a handgun inside the New England Pentecostal Ministries, interrupting the morning wedding. The 37-year-old man’s stepfather was allegedly murdered by the groom’s son earlier this month, but authorities say the exact motive for Saturday’s violence remains under investigation.Here’s what we know.
What authorities say happened
Police stand outside the New England Pentecostal Ministries on Saturday.
Pelham police responded to the church at 955 Bridge St. around 10:12 a.m. on Saturday after receiving a 911 call from inside the house of worship reporting that a man had come in and shot the presiding bishop.
When officers entered the church, they found that the guests attending the wedding had subdued the shooting suspect, later identified by authorities as Holloway. The bishop, 75-year-old Stanley Choate, was found suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper chest. The bride, 60-year-old Claire McMullen, was found suffering from a gunshot wound to her arm. The groom, 60-year-old Mark Castiglione, was also found injured, having suffered a blow to the head.
Angelo Castiglione, the 60-year-old groom’s father, told NBC10 Boston that he was sitting in the front pew when Holloway ran in, interrupting the ceremony.
“The bishop turned around to face him to see what was going on and this guy shot him point blank right in the chest,” Castiglione told the news station Sunday night. “Before you know it the guy pulled out a gun and aimed it right at the bishop. Shot him twice. And aimed toward my son and his wife, shot again and she got a bullet through the arm.”
The 75-year-old bishop was taken to Tufts Medical Center, where he continues to receive treatment for serious injuries, according to authorities. McMullen was treated at a local hospital and released, as was her husband-to-be.
Police said guests at the scene were also treated for minor injuries.
Holloway was taken into custody and charged with attempted murder and first-degree assault for shooting Choate, second-degree assault for injuring McMullen, and simple assault for pistol-whipping Castiglione. He is also being charged for being in possession of a firearm as a felon, having been previously convicted of a felony in Massachusetts’s Suffolk County, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office.
“The New Hampshire State Police and Pelham Police Department are continuing to investigate this crime,” the AG’s office said in a statement.
According to Pelham police, active shooter training was provided to the church by the department in the last year.
What we know about the suspect
Dale Holloway.
The shooting at the New England Pentecostal Ministries was the second act of violence to impact the church’s community in recent weeks.
On Oct. 1, Rev. Luis Garcia, a member of the church, was shot and killed in Londonderry. His funeral services were set to take place at the church hours after the Saturday wedding ceremony, according to his obituary, which listed the minister as being survived, among other family members, by his stepson, Dale Holloway.
Brandon Castiglione, 24, was arrested and charged with Garcia’s murder. Garcia’s family told the Union Leader that the two men were known to each other through the Pelham church and that the 60-year-old minister had been trying to help Castiglione, who had a history of run-ins with the police ranging from disorderly conduct to possession with intent to distribute.
“My father was murdered,” Holloway told WBZ after his Tuesday arraignment.
But Holloway has his own record.
The 37-year-old was released from a Massachusetts prison in December, where he had been serving a maximum sentence of seven years for assaulting an estranged girlfriend in 2012 over the course of three days and sending threatening letter to her and her mother before his trial, The Boston Globe reports.
He also was accused of stabbing a person in Boston’s Downtown Crossing in March 2001, but his lawyers said he was protecting a friend from an attack by a gang member, according to the Globe. While in prison with pending criminal charges against him in 2008, Holloway reportedly wrote to a Suffolk County judge that he had been attacked because he had “denounced” the Latin Kings gang he’d been involved with.
According to the Union Leader, for the 2001 incident he was sentenced to a minimum of 2 ½ years and later sentenced to 40 days at Bridgewater State Hospital for a parole violation.
On Tuesday, Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati confirmed to WBZ that Garcia was Holloway’s stepfather and that Brandon Castiglione is the son of Mark Castiglione, the groom in Saturday’s shooting.
“I don’t think I’m comfortable saying it’s just a revenge shooting at this point, we’re still investigating the other aspects of this,” he said.
In a statement on the church’s website, officials asked the community to pray for Choate, the injured bishop, and his family. Choate has served as a pastor since 1969.
Services at the church are canceled through Oct. 20.
“The family would plead with everyone to refrain from any acts of violence,” the statement reads. “That is not what the Bishop would want. And remember God is still in control.”
Anyone with information about shooting is being encouraged by authorities to contact Sgt. Kelly Healey at the New Hampshire State Police Major Crime Unit at 603-628-8477.
