Priest shot in foot in struggle over gun

LEBANON PA: The incoming council president of a Serbian Orthodox church said the church’s pastor, armed with a semiautomatic pistol, threatened to shoot him and ended up being shot himself during a scuffle.

Frederick Pantelich said he was trying to wrestle a gun away from the Rev. Filip Velisavljevic on Monday when it fired, grazing the pastor’s foot.

”He threatened to shoot me,” said Pantelich, who is to take office next month as council president at the Church of the Holy Resurrection of Christ.

The fight began in the church’s social hall and ended on the sidewalk outside, where the gun went off, Lebanon police said. The men then walked away and each called police to report the incident.

The men were treated at Good Samaritan Hospital, police said. Neither was charged pending an investigation.

Police refused to give any details about the incident. There was no answer at Velisavljevic’s home phone Wednesday morning and a listing could not be found for the church.