Pastor speaks on father fatally shot in Canton Township: "Really loved his family"
CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - This past Sunday was different at St. Michael Lutheran Church in Canton Township. The church was missing the familiar face of 35-year-old Nathan Morris, who was gunned down outside his home less than 24 hours earlier.
"It's been a hard thing for this community to reflect on that, to wrestle with that. You see these things, and it's different when it hits home," Marcus Carlson, lead pastor of St. Michael Lutheran Church.
Carlson said Morris had strong faith, which always seemed to show in his actions for his kids.
"[He was] very driven by his family, really loved his family, loved his kids, and so I think even so much of that faith experience was centered around what was best for his kids. A lot of the stuff he did was really centered around his kids."
Carlson said it wasn't easy delivering this news to the rest of the church on Sunday.
"How do we do this well as a church, like recognizing that this is really difficult and there's more questions than answers? We took extra time in that moment and throughout the service to pray for them and really to give the congregation some opportunity to wrestle with it," he said.
The man accused of killing Morris, 47-year-old Devereaux Christopher Johnson, is charged with first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, along with two other gun charges. He's being held without bond at the Wayne County Jail following his arraignment on Monday.
Carlson said they're planning to help Morris' family by coordinating financial donations during this time.