Shots fired in church parking lot

SUNRISE, Fla. (WSVN) -- The mood quickly changed from prayer to panic outside a South Florida church. A woman was hit by gunfire and a child was just inches from harm's way.

The woman was able to run to her car after being shot at in the Faith Center Church parking lot. As she is surrounded by doctors, parishioners are surrounding her with prayer.

"I heard gunshots," said witness Herrietha Gary, "like boom, boom. I thought it was fire crackers."

It was not firecrackers, but the echoes of gunshots that rang out in the Faith Center Church parking lot Sunday. Gary carried her grandson and ducked behind a car. "I've never been so scared in all the days of my life," said Gary. "I was just frantic. And my grand baby just 5 months old, I was running with him. All I could think about was, 'Please, don't let those bullets hit my grand baby.'"

Sunrise Police said a man with a gun took aim at his ex-girlfriend. After she was shot, she was able to get into her car with her 12-year-old daughter who wasn't hit and drove across the parking lot.

The man then shot and killed himself. "I was like, 'What's going on?'" said Sherice Sealy. "I look, and everyone ran back inside freaking out."

The gunman's fire sent churchgoers scrambling to get back inside the building. Parishioners had just finished listening to a sermon by popular televangelist Benny Hinn who was a guest at the church. "We came here to have a great service," said one woman, "with Benny Hinn in town, and we're just going to continue to work by faith and trust God."

The Sunrise Police Department has not released the names of the woman or the man involved in the incident.

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