A missionary from the Curtis Corner Baptist Church in South Kingstown
was shot to death in Iraq on Saturday, according to members of his
church.
Pastor John Kelley, 48, was traveling between Baghdad and Babylon with
several other pastors when a vehicle pulled up alongside their van and
opened fire, said Roland Vukic, of Charlestown, a church member who said
he was a close friend of the pastor.
Three others in the van -- who were also missionaries -- were injured,
according to a pastor from a Warwick church. Mr. Kelley and about 10
other pastors left on Feb. 6 to help a pastor who was starting a church
in Baghdad, according to Vukic.
"Christianity is a hostile message in an Islamic country," Vukic said.
"It appears they were being followed when they left Baghdad."
Vukic said he learned of the incident in a phone call Saturday afternoon
from another pastor who was in Iraq. The U.S. military confirmed today
that gunmen killed an American Baptist minister from Rhode Island and
wounded three other pastors, but did not identify them.
Two other men from New England -- the Revs. David Davis, of the Grace
Bible Baptist Church in Vernon, Conn., and Kirk DiVietro, a pastor at
Grace Baptist Church in Franklin, Mass. -- were injured in the attack,
their families said.
A Newburgh, N.Y. ,minister was also wounded, according to Vukic. The
van's driver, an Iraqi, was not injured, Vukic said.
Mr. Kelley, a former Marine, had been pastor of the close-knit
congregation of about 120 people for 18 years, according to Vukic. He
leaves his wife, Jane; and four children: Jenney, 15; Jason, 17; James,
21, and Julia, 23.
Vukic said that Curtis Corner is an independent, fundamentalist Baptist
church whose members regularly "preach the Gospel" in their communities
and also seek to establish new churches around the world.
The church itself is located at the intersection of Curtis Corner Road
and South Road. Mr. Kelley was also a carpenter and had been designing
the new church the congregation planned to build nearby, Vukic said.
Kate Pettit, 30, of Franklin, Mass., learned of the ambush in a phone
call from her father, Kirk DiVietro, who was in the back seat of the
vehicle when it was sprayed with gunfire.
"He said they must've emptied two rounds into the car. Their driver then
just pushed the gas and tried to get out of there," Pettit said.
She said DiVietro, 51, suffered minor injuries, including cuts on his
hands and head. Two other pastors -- one from New York and another from
Connecticut -- were also injured, she said.
The trip was to last two weeks, Pettit said. She said her father planned
to return to Franklin, where he is the head pastor at Grace Baptist
Church, on Friday.
According to Vukic's account, Pastor Kelley was sitting behind the Iraqi
driver, and took the first shots.
"What he did was a totally unselfish act," he said. "He was willing to
give his life so that people would hear the message that Jesus had."
"We're really grieved. He was a really good guy. He was what every
pastor should be -- a great family man, very genuine, worked hard for
his parish," Sam Stricklin, a pastor at First Baptist Church in Warwick,
told The Associated Press.
Memorial services and burial are tentatively planned for next week, on
Feb. 23 and 24, according to Vukic. Organizers do not where the service
will be held since Curtis Corner Baptist Church is considered too small.
Burial will be in the Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery in Exeter.
-- With reports from The Associated Press and Journal staff writer
Paul Davis
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