STRAY BULLET KILLS PHILA. MINISTER

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- An apparently stray bullet killed a newly ordained
minister as he sat in a church van with members of his congregation.

Nafes Johnson, 19, and four members of Greater St. Matthew's Baptist Church
were being driven to their homes after a Friday night service, police said.

Johnson, sitting behind the driver, was struck in the head by a bullet that
penetrated the window next to him, said Lt. Richard Ross. He died at a
hospital early Saturday. No one else was injured.

The bullet appeared to have been fired from about a block away in a
shooting over a drug deal, Police Commissioner John Timoney said.

Ross said the fatal shot appeared to have been random.

"There were other shots fired, but that is the only one that went through
the window," Ross said. "There's no reason to believe that anybody would
have targeted a church van."

No one had been arrested Saturday in Johnson's shooting.

Johnson was ordained April 8 at the church in South Philadelphia and he
gave his first sermon last week, witnesses said.

He was shot just five blocks from a schoolyard where a 6-year-old girl was
wounded by a stray bullet on April 4. The elementary school had resumed
outdoor play this school year after keeping children inside the previous
year for safety reasons.