Alleged sex abuse victim shoots Baltimore priest

Associated Press

BALTIMORE — A priest was shot and seriously wounded outside his home by a man who accused him of abuse nine years ago, authorities said Tuesday in the latest tragic turn in the sex scandal engulfing the Roman Catholic Church.

Dontee Stokes, 26, surrendered Monday night and said he shot the Rev. Maurice Blackwell after the priest refused to talk to him, police spokeswoman Ragina Averella said. Stokes was charged with attempted murder, gun violations and assault. He was being held without bail.

Blackwell, 56, was in serious but stable condition at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. His family declined to talk to reporters.

In 1993, the church concluded that Stokes’ claims of being molested by Blackwell as a teen-ager were not credible. According to the police report, Stokes, then 17, told officers that Blackwell had touched and fondled him for three years while he attended Bible study classes at St. Edward Roman Catholic Church. The archdiocese conducted its own investigation and found the charges were not credible, Kempisty said.

However, the priest has been on involuntary leave since 1998 because of allegations leveled by another alleged victim.

"This kind of tragedy is something we’ve feared for some time," said Barbara Blaine of Chicago, founder of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.

In Baltimore, police said Stokes had a .357-caliber handgun in a black duffel bag when he drove past Blackwell’s home Monday evening, circled the block and came back. Police said Stokes tried several times to talk to the priest, but Blackwell showed no interest in speaking with him.

Stokes told authorities he "doesn’t know what came over him" after that, according to the police report.

Police said Stokes opened fire, hitting Blackwell in his left hand and twice in his left side near his hip, police said. When police arrived, Blackwell identified Stokes as the gunman. Stokes surrendered nearly six hours later, telling officers Blackwell molested him as a teen-ager.

"There’s a breaking point for everybody, and I guess yesterday was his breaking point," said Stokes’ mother, Tamara Stokes.

She said people in the church knew her son was being abused but that "nothing was done. Nothing still has not been done until this day, except that my son sits behind bars."