Inheritance dispute behind pastor's shooting by brother, police say

DAYTON, Ohio -- The man being held in the fatal shooting of his pastor brother at an Ohio church sued the minister over an inheritance dispute five years ago.

Dayton police said Sunday that the Rev. William B. Schooler, 70, was shot Sunday at St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church.

CBS affiliate WHIO reported that the pastor was gunned down just before 12:30 p.m. in his office in back of his church while the choir was singing at the end of Sunday services.

The pastor's brother, 68-year-old Daniel Gregory Schooler, was arrested at the church and taken to the Montgomery County jail.

Court records show Daniel Schooler sued his brother and church leaders in 2011, saying he was owed money from the real estate value of the church.

A court ruled against Daniel Schooler's claim.

Daniel Schooler was expected to be charged Monday.

Calls to police Monday morning weren't immediately returned. Jail records didn't list an attorney for Schooler.

A relative told the Dayton Daily News that Daniel Schooler has a history of mental illness.

The newspaper also reports that Daniel Schooler shot his nephew in the arm in 2001, but the nephew didn't want to press charges.

"We heard pow, pow," church member Beulah Booker-Robertson said, recounting the church shooting to the Dayton Daily News.

"The usher at the door said 'everybody get down, everybody get out.' "

The brothers' niece, Joyce Napier, told the newspaper that Daniel Schooler has a history of mental illness.

"I would think it has to be something's going on in his head to do something like that, because we were raised to love," she told the newspaper.

William Schooler also was a past interim president of the Dayton school board and current president of the local Baptist ministers union.

He taught in the Dayton school district in the 1970s and served as a principal in the Jefferson Township district for nearly two decades, according to the Daily News. He also held other positions with community organizations and local governments, including serving as a certified city of Dayton mediator.

"He had deep roots in the community," a friend, Ronnie Moreland, told the newspaper.

Dayton City Commissioner Joey Williams told the Daily News he had discussed with Schooler ways to reduce violence in the community.

"For him to be a victim of violence is just extremely saddening," Williams said.