A volunteer firefighter from a western Nevada community 60 miles east of Reno was killed in a shooting at a Mormon church during services.
The Deseret News reports that firefighter Charles "Bert" Miller was the man who was killed Sunday when an armed gunman opened fire at an LDS church in the town of Fallon. The firefighter's brother, Duane Miller, was also wounded in the attack.
The Churchill County District Attorney on Monday filed first-degree murder charges against 48-year-old John Kelly O'Connor, who is being held in Fallon on $1.05 million bail. No motive has been established for the shooting and the investigation is ongoing.
"He was one of the most selfless, soft-spoken, kind people I know," Miller's daughter, Heidi Ayers, said of her father, who was a mechanic that volunteered for the Fallon/Churchill County Fire Department for decades. "We have no way to understand why this happened. My dad shook (O'Connor's) hand before the meeting."
During Sunday's services, a speaker was several minutes into her talk when O'Connor left the church foyer, entered the chapel and drew a handgun, shooting Miller several times at point blank range, according to witness accounts.
"It was horrific," Duane Miller said after being wounded in the ankle during the shooting.
Bert Miller's family told the Deseret News that the firefighter had been looking forward to a family reunion this week and would have turned 62 on Saturday.
A GoFundMe page was started for Miller's family with a goal of $10,000, but the total had reached nearly $13,000 by Tuesday afternoon.
