Pastor shot in head returns to pulpit, speaks about accused son
Jason Hawk | The Chronicle-Telegram
WELLINGTON — Only truly evil men with the blackest of hearts could have beaten Jesus and crucified him 2,000 years ago, the Rev. Mark Petric said Sunday in his Easter sermon at New Life Assembly of God.
After the service, he said he felt the same way about his wife’s murder.
“You can’t do something like that without being evil,” he said. “When he killed my wife, Daniel was evil.”
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| Mark Petric |
Petric’s 16-year-old son, Daniel Petric, is charged with slaying 43-year-old Sue Petric and trying to kill his father Oct. 20 at the family’s Brighton Township home.
Daniel took a 9 mm handgun from a locked safe and told his parents to close their eyes because he had a surprise for them, prosecutors said.
Then he shot Mark Petric, 45, in the left side of the head and Sue Petric, 43, in her chest, arm and head, according to court documents. Sue Petric died almost instantly and Mark Petric fell into a three-week-long coma.
Prosecutor Dennis Will has said Daniel tried to put the gun in his father’s hand before he fled the crime scene.
Petric has slowly recovered, enduring six surgeries in the past five months to reconstruct his face.
Five weeks ago, doctors removed a piece of his jawbone where a bullet was lodged, and he’ll have to undergo a bone graft to fix the jaw later this year. Surgeons also will replace part of his skull where a previous graft didn’t work, Mark Petric said.
He returned to the pulpit at New Life Assembly of God last week for the first time since his wife’s death and talked to his congregation about the power of forgiveness.
His thoughts Easter Sunday turned to an age-old question: Why do bad things happen to good people?
More than 100 people listened in the sanctuary as he talked about the injustice of the 32 people killed by a shooter in April 2007 at Virginia Tech, the 12 students and a teacher killed by two gunmen in April 1999 at Columbine High School, the 2,974 people killed in the terrorist hijackings on Sept. 11, 2001, and the one life taken by his own son’s rampage.
Even though bad things happen, God never turns his back on his people, Petric told his congregation.
Sitting in a church pew about an hour later, Petric told The Chronicle-Telegram that his son was a victim in a spiritual war.
About six weeks before the shooting, Daniel rejected his faith and said he didn’t want to live with Christian parents, Mark Petric said.
“The Bible says that if you turn away from God, the devil will come after you. I think Satan got ahold of him,” he said.
Daniel wasn’t in control of his own actions when he showed up at his parents’ house that fateful night, Mark Petric said. He never used the word “possession,” but he said it was a dark, spiritual force calling the shots.
“I believe he just snapped. At that point, he was insane,” Mark Petric said. “There was something else in his head, and it wasn’t Danny.”
Petric said he remembers everything about that night until he passed out in an ambulance from blood loss.
While he’s not allowed to talk about how the shooting happened, Petric agreed Sunday to talk briefly about how he felt after Daniel pulled the trigger.
“I was numb. I just watched my son shoot my wife, and I felt like I got hit over the head with a sledge hammer,” he said. “I couldn’t feel anything. I was there on the floor and my only thought was to ask the Lord to spare my life and my wife’s life.”
When he awoke at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, Petric said, he was filled with anger until God told him to forgive Daniel.
Now he sees his son two or three times a week at the county jail where Daniel is awaiting trial. Petric said his son is trying to deal with the emotional consequences of his actions and he cries and apologizes during each visit.
Petric said Daniel has returned to Christianity and wrote a letter to his family saying he hopes to one day see his mother in heaven.
Meanwhile, Petric said he will no longer help prosecutors build a case against his son.
“I’ve given them my statement, but they want to put my son in jail for life, and I’m not going to help them do that,” Petric said. “I love my son. I won’t let the prosecutor ruin his future. … Danny is not a throwaway kid.”
The pastor said he understands he’ll have to testify against Daniel but said he’s scared of what he’ll have to say on the witness stand.
Mark Petric also said he knows there will have to be consequences for Daniel’s actions and isn’t saying his son should walk free.
“But I’ve forgiven Danny,” he said. “His sister has forgiven him. His brother-in-law, who was there, has forgiven him. And I know that his mother, who is up in heaven watching, has also forgiven him.”
Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Jason Hawk | The Chronicle-Telegram March 24th, 2008 in Top Stories. Popularity: 10% |
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