Pastor killed while cleaning gun

WEDDINGTON, N.C. (AP) – The pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Charlotte is dead from a gunshot wound while cleaning his gun.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office said Bishop Phillip Milton Davis of Nations Ford Community Church died Saturday. Authorities say Davis was planning to visit a firing range and was cleaning his pistol at his Weddington home when it accidentally fired, causing a fatal chest wound.

Davis was prominent in urging non-violence ahead of the trial of a white Charlotte police officer for shooting an unarmed black man.

Davis was among the community activists who called for peaceful marches as well as a revision of the police use-of-force policy and Mecklenburg County’s jury selection process after a mistrial was declared in the case of officer Randall “Wes” Kerrick earlier this month.

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