Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

In Baltimore, Priest in Hospital Today With Gunshot Wounds

Aired May 14, 2002 - 13:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour now in Baltimore, where a priest who was briefly removed from his parish in the early 1990s over a sex allegation in a hospital today with gunshot wounds to his torso and wrist. The AP says father Maurice Blackwell's admitted attacker is the man who'd accused Blackwell of inappropriate contact.

Dennis Edwards of our affiliate WJZ now has an update in Baltimore.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENNIS EDWARDS, WJZ REPORTER: Father Maurice Blackwell was getting out of his SUV in front of his home on the 700 block of Reservoir Street, when witnesses, who don't want their faces on camera, say a man he knew drove up in a compact car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The person that got shot was standing in front of his car like he was going to get into his car, and they exchanged words, and the next thing you know, he pulled out his gun, and they shot him.

EDWARDS: Father Blackwell's family is visiting from out of town. They saw him talking to a man inside a vehicle. The conversation appeared to be jovial, they say, until shots rang out. The next thing they knew, he was lying on the ground.

MELVIN MCGEE, NEIGHBOR: Look over and saw father Blackwell laying down in back of his Tracker. And like I said, when we saw it was father Blackwell, it completely freaked us out.

EDWARDS: Investigator say Blackwell was wounded in the wrist and around the kidney area. He was rushed to shock trauma. Witnesses say the suspect may have attended Blackwell's former church.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He used to go over to the church. There was a recreation center over there or something, and he was telling him that he was selling drugs -- selling poison to our people and stuff like that, so that was something that happened a long time ago.

EDWARDS: Father Blackwell is the former pastor of St. Edwards Roman Catholic Church. In the mid 1990s, he was suspended, and eventually reinstated, after a male parishioner accused him of inappropriately touching him. The charges were later dropped when allegation was not substantiated. Blackwell's family said high left St. Edwards, and now works with a drug counseling program in Washington D.C. called "One Church, One Addict."

MCGEE: I can't see why anybody would want to shoot father Blackwell. I really, really, really can't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com