Detectives with the Seattle Police Department have confirmed that a torched vehicle is the Hyundai Elantra that was used to flee the scene after the shooting of a 28-year-old man at a Pursuit Church young adults event.
The shooting, which claimed the life of Christopher “LeBron” Castleberry, took place on Thursday evening at a dinner event in the parking lot of Pursuit Church’s Seattle location.
The shooter and any possible accomplices remain at large. The church is now offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Police responded to reports of a burning car in the early morning hours of Friday. Authorities later confirmed that it was the vehicle for which the police had put out a bulletin on Thursday evening.
Castleberry, along with his wife and child, had recently begun attending Pursuit Church. Police believe that the shooting was not a random act of violence but rather a targeted attack.
When officers arrived following the shooting, they attempted to perform lifesaving measures on Castleberry, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
In a social media post on Thursday, Russell Johnson, the pastor of Pursuit Church, said that church leaders would do “our best to try to minister to the family and to the other young adults who were gathered, who obviously are dealing with the shock and the grief of the unbelievable events that occurred at our church campus this evening.”
“I’m asking for your prayers,” he added. “I’m asking that you would pray for Pursuit and pray for the family that is now grieving.”
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On Friday, in an interview with King 5, Johnson characterized the shooting as “an unbelievable tragedy for our community to see one of our Pursuit Church members gunned down in this brazen, broad daylight assassination on church property.”
