A Pentecostal Christian man was shot and killed in Amritsar, Punjab State, in India. The October 23rd attack also left three others injured.
Christian leaders told UCA News there were as many as seven assailants, and say police have made three arrests, as they continue their search for other suspects still at large.
“Four persons armed with guns entered the church and opened fire at us” the church pastor’s son Jaspal Masih told UCA News on Oct. 26. “I laid flat on the ground and saved my life,” he also said. Mr Masih’s cousin was Prince Atwal, “was shot in the head and chest and died on the spot,” according to UCA News.
The Indian Express named one of the alleged assailants as Randeep Singh Gill, and cited eyewitnesses who told the paper the suspect and the decedent had “a long standing rivalry” but did not further specify the nature of the allegedly long-standing dispute.
UCA News also noted that the suspect and the decedent had had an altercation in the past, and further quoted Mr Masih as saying, “Gill tried to disrupt another prayer meeting,” some months ago, “on alleged charges of religious conversion.”
The ecumenical Christian Relief forum has recorded 157 cases of persecution against Christians, including four murders, in the third quarter of 2020.
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