Murder charges filed Monday in the shooting death of an Illinois pastor gunned down as he preached named as the assailant a 27-year-old man who family members once said suffered bouts of erratic behavior because of his Lyme disease.
Terry J. Sedlacek of Troy was charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and aggravated battery, said Stephanee Smith, spokeswoman for Madison County Prosecutors William Mudge.
Smith said prosecutors were not commenting on a possible motive in the attack, or on the gunman’s mental state when he strode into First Baptist Church shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, exchanged words with the Rev. Fred Winters., then fired a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol until it jammed.
Winters, 45, later died of his injuries.
‘‘We’re still not sure what the reasoning was,’’ Illinois State Police Lt. Scott Compton said Monday.
Chief Judge Ann Callis ordered Sedlacek held without bond even as he remained hospitalized in serious condition from stab wounds suffered after he was wrestled to the ground by parishioners who authorities said tackled him as he pulled out a knife. All three were wounded.
Sedlacek was featured last year in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article detailing his battle with Lyme disease. In the article, his mother said the disease left lesions on his brain and that doctors had diagnosed him as mentally ill before discovering the disease.
In the August 2008 article, Ruth Abernathy said her son was taking several medications and had difficulty speaking after contracting the tick-borne illness.
A phone call to a number listed for Robert and Ruth Abernathy in Troy rang unanswered Monday.
Untreated Lyme disease can spread to the bones, heart and nervous system. It can cause brain inflammation and in rare cases, problems with concentration and short-term memory, and sleep disturbances, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site.
Other rare nervous-system symptoms include severe headaches and neck stiffness, which can be treated with antibiotics, said Dr. Eugene Shapiro, a Lyme disease expert at Yale University.
There are also isolated reports of hallucinations and psychotic illness blamed on Lyme disease. But these are controversial and some experts including Shapiro believe affected people likely had pre-existing mental problems or were misdiagnosed and never had Lyme disease.
Shapiro said blaming the tick-borne illness for violent behavior is a stretch.
‘‘Lyme disease doesn’t cause people to shoot people,’’ Shapiro said.
Maryville, ill. —
