MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) – A 15-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man have been charged with carjacking and the fatal shooting of a prominent United Methodist leader in Memphis, Tennessee, prosecutors said Tuesday. rice field.
Miguel Andrade, 15, and Eduardo Rodriguez Tabora, 21, were each charged with first-degree murder, specifically aggravated robbery. Pastor Autura Eason-Williams passes away July 18, 2022the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Eason-Williams was found with a gunshot wound in the driveway of his home. She died in hospital. Video footage showed the pastor being ordered out of the car and shot before it was robbed, police said.
A lawyer for Rodriguez Tabora declined to comment. Andrade’s attorney was not listed in the online court records.
The daytime shootings shook members of the United Methodist Church in Memphis and elsewhere. Eason-Williams was the district administrator of the Tennessee Western Kentucky Convention of the Church. She was also pastor of the Capleville United Methodist Church and a graduate of Memphis Theological Seminary.
Andrade was transferred from juvenile court to adult court. The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office considered Andrade’s age, criminal record, and behavior when the crime was suspected when requesting that she be charged as an adult, her DA spokesperson Erica Williams said in a statement she made in January. said to
Another 15-year-old boy charged He pleaded guilty in juvenile court to involvement in carjacking.
Eason-Williams has led youth camps, retreats, women’s events, and preached at local, district, and conference church events.
She has also served on several boards and on My Sister’s Keeper, an outreach that addresses health disparities for African American women, and a network of 600 churches that address health disparities and build relationships between hospitals. I also participated in the planning committee that created a Congregational Health Network. community and neighborhood, according to her biography published on the Eason Williams website.