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Ala. Church Brawl: Pastor Tased, Mother Stabbed After Service

By Stephanie Rabiner, Esq. on August 11, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Southern churches are said to have more fun, and New Welcome Baptist Church in Grand Bay, Alabama seems to be no exception.

A laid-off music director instigated a no-holds-barred church brawl on Sunday, leaving a pastor tased, a woman stabbed, and a warrant out for the arrest of a church deacon.

To add fuel to the weird fire, the music director claims to be an R&B artist, and ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010.

Sunday's church brawl began when Pastor Daryl Riley fired the church's minister of music, Simone Moore, reports WALA-TV. Moore responded by tasing the pastor, leading other church members to get involved.

At one point, Moore's mother, Agolia, entered the fight, but was sidelined when church deacon Harvey Hunt stabbed her in the arm with a pocket knife.

Arrest warrants have been issued for both Simone Moore and Hunt, according to the station.

It's likely that police are focusing on the pair because they will be unable to defend their actions by claiming self-defense.

The law of self-defense requires a defendant to use only that force which is proportionate and reasonable given the situation.

There appears to be no valid reason for Moore to have tased Pastor Riley, and Hunt's use of a knife was likely not reasonable in the face of an unarmed mother, no matter how fierce she was in protecting her son.

Luckily, in the end, though his actions left the pastor tased and his mother stabbed in the arm, Simone Moore's church brawl did not cause any serious injuries.

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