On Monday, 43 year old Linton Wilgus was found with "puncture wounds to the neck" on the campus of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas and died shortly after. Tony Evans, the megachurch's pastor, has revealed that the man was not a member of the church, but was seemingly seeking help from its congregation.
"Some of our members tried to help him," pastor Evans told local media, explaining that the dead man was a "nonmember" of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. Evans said the man was not known by any members on campus, reports WFAA.
He added, "We are just glad our members are safe. We want to find out what happened to the nonmember."
According to the Dallas Police Department's media relations manager, Maj. Max Geron,Wilgus reportedly had pulled his car into the parking lot and spoke to the witness, a church member who was on campus for an early morning prayer meeting. When the church member noticed his bloody neck wound, the person entered the church and called 911.
According to the report, Wilgus followed the church member into the building and became combative with a second witness who approached him. After the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department arrived, Wilgus was declared dead.
"There is no connection to the church and detectives do not believe parishioners have any reason for concern related to this incident," Geron noted.
WFAA reports that emergency officials were called to the campus of the 10,000-member church at 5:50 a.m., and police officers "spent a lot of time in the church's parking lot Monday." A car was towed from the megachurch's parking lot, although law enforcement officials declined to confirm whether the car belonged to Wilgus.
While the incident was initially reported as a "fatal cutting," law enforcement officials said the cause of death had yet to be determined and the case is still undergoing investigation.
"We simply pray for this man and his family," said one member of the church. "We don't know who he is or his story, but he clearly knew he needed the Lord and felt safe in coming to our church. I think we all feel saddened by this event."
