The World Changers shooter, 52 year-old Floyd Palmer, was arrested yesterday at Lenox Square in Buckhead around 4:00 P.M. He was scheduled for a court appearance this morning but declined to attend. According to wsbradio, Pastor Creflo Dollar told his congregation,  “That it is not God’s will for a husband to be taken away from his wife and family. That’s not God’s will” .

As reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Palmer was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Greg McDowell at the College Park church founded by televangelist Creflo Dollar. It was the second time Palmer had been charged with shooting a man in a church; he pleaded guilty to shooting a man a decade ago in Baltimore and was committed to a mental health facility there.

McDowell was a long-time member of World Changers International Church. The AJC also reported that he was an “uplifting man, husband, father of two young children and was a member of the church’s production crew and a facilities maintenance manager there.”

The church is supposed to be a place of safety. From his past record we see that this man is clearly mentally unstable but it seems that all the appropriate measures were not taken taken to ensure he received the help he needed. After all, this is his second time committing this crime.

Check out a few of my past articles on mental health in the church:

http://www.askdro.com/2012/03/dr-o-the-church-and-mental-illness-are-we-ready-yet/

http://www.askdro.com/2011/02/is-my-church-member-crazy-part-ii/

http://www.askdro.com/2010/06/could-the-church-lady-really-be-depressed/

Tell me your thoughts!

Dr. O