BELMONT, N.C.-- Members of Southpoint Free Will Baptist Church in Belmont are mourning the death of their pastor Saturday after a three-vehicle wreck in Lancaster County, SC.
Church Deacon James Townsend identified the pastor as Ronnie Wilson, 64. Townsend also told NewsChannel 36 that four other church members riding with the pastor in a church van were taken to Carolinas Medical Center in critical condition. He said the five men were returning from a church golf retreat in Myrtle Beach.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol said the three vehicles crashed around 4:20 pm on SC 903 in the Antioch community east of Lancaster. The church van and a 1995 Ford F-150 towing an 18-foot utility trailer were westbound on SC 903, and somehow collided with a pickup truck traveling eastbound. Troopers were still investigating the cause of the wreck late Saturday night.
Lance Corporal Jeff Gaskin said three church members and two people in the eastbound truck were airlifted to CMC, and the fourth church member was taken by ambulance. Gaskin said the driver and passenger of the eastbound truck were not wearing seatbelts and were thrown from the truck.
The driver and passenger of the F-150 were wearing seatbelts and didn’t have any serious injuries, said Gaskin.
Church members gathered Saturday at the church to talk and comfort Wilson’s wife and grown son, who were at the church. Townsend said church members would not be making a statement Saturday, other than to say they miss their pastor, and they’re asking the community to pray for them and Wilson’s family.
Stay with NewsChannel 36 for more on this developing story.
