MARYVILLE, Ill. — The man charged with gunning down a pastor at midsermon and then stabbing two churchgoers had marked the day as “death day” in a planner found in his home and carried enough ammunition to kill 30 people, a prosecutor said Monday.
Madison County State’s Attorney William Mudge said he had no details on the reference in gunman Terry J. Sedlacek’s day planner, only that it singled out Sunday as “death day.” “The only thing I can really comment on is he came armed with many rounds of ammunition and a knife, and I think we can surmise that more bloodshed may have occurred,” Mudge said.
Sedlacek, 27, of Troy, was charged Monday with first-degree murder and aggravated battery in the attack at First Baptist Church that killed the Rev. Fred Winters and left Sedlacek and two congregants who tackled him with stab wounds.
Neither Mudge nor Illinois State Police would comment on a possible motive or on Sedlacek’s mental state when he strode into the church shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, exchanged words with Winters and began firing a handgun.
“We’re still not sure what the reasoning was,” said state police Lt. Scott Compton, adding that investigators had not yet interviewed Sedlacek.
Sedlacek has suffered bouts of erratic behavior that his family has attributed to Lyme disease.
But Dr. Eugene Shapiro, a Lyme disease expert at Yale University, said it would be unlikely that the tickborne ailment would make someone so violent.
“Lyme disease doesn’t cause people to shoot people,” Shapiro said.
A phone call to a number listed for Robert and Ruth Abernathy in Troy was not answered Monday. One of Sedlacek’s aunts, Joann Self of Glen Carbon, said the family had no comment.
Sedlacek’s attorney, Ron Slemer, said his client’s family is “very sorry” for the pastor’s congregation.
Mudge said Sedlacek had 10 rounds of ammunition in a handgun and was carrying two more 10-round magazines in his pocket Sunday.
