Suicide Attempted in Memphis Church
5-29-2000
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A 27-year-old woman went into her church, asked the pastor to pray for her and then shot herself in the head.
Sharon Denise Johnson was in critical condition Monday at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis, the day after the shooting at the Love Center Ministries Church.
Before services began Sunday, Johnson knelt at the altar and asked pastor Bennett Dean to pray. He told her, ''The Lord loves you,'' and the 10 to 15 members of the congregation on hand echoed those words.
Despite Dean's pleas of ''don't leave,'' Johnson then stood up and walked to the back of the church. ''Without hesitation, she came out with a gun and fired one shot at the base of her skull,'' Dean said.
The bullet penetrated the base of her skull. No one else was injured.
Johnson, who has been a member of the church for seven years, works as a counselor for troubled children.
Johnson, an All-State basketball player in high school, played college ball at the University of Wisconsin. In 1995, she hit one of the biggest baskets in that program's history -- a shot with less than 3 seconds remaining that upset Kansas during the first round of the NCAA women's tournament.
