Pastor Commits Suicide After Allegedly Killing Brother and Running Over Nephew in Car
A Trinidadian pastor has committed suicide after allegedly shooting and killing his brother and running over his nephew twice.
Vishnu Lutchmansingh, 54, a wealthy Pentecostal pastor, was in court on Monday on charges of fraud before he and his brother Krishan, began arguing. In the midst of the fight, Lutchmansingh reported pulled out a pistol and shot his brother dead.
After fleeing the scene, Lutchmansingh ran his car through a barricade blocking the entrance to his property, where he shot his nephew's vehicle several times before running over his nephew, Timothy Janitan, with his car. According to the Trinidad Express, "Lutchmansingh then put the car into reverse gear and drove over his nephew again."
After attacking Janitan, Lutchmansingh reportedly set his house on fire and shot himself dead.
Janitan survived his uncle's aggression and was taken to the hospital.
One man, who identified himself as having worked with the pastor, said the man's deceased brother "was always fighting him down. That man (Krishan) real robbed him and stole from him."
Lutchmansingh, who converted from Hinduism roughly 30 years ago to become a Pentecostal Christian, purportedly inherited several billion dollars from American railroad engineer Buford Keaton American under suspicious circumstances, where the pastor claimed to be the sole beneficiary on the will. Soon after Lutchmansingh received the money in 2003, the pastor was accused of 80 fraud violations that included forging documents and "obtaining money by false pretense," according to Guardian Media.
In 2010, Keaton's son Doyen testified against the pastor.
In March 2012, Lutchmansingh was ordered to stand trial for defrauding Nutrimix executive Shaheed Mohammed of $3 million. He was also accused of allegedly swindling $1.1 million from four other businessmen by borrowing money from them and promising "to repay the sums at exorbitant rates of interest, using his claimed inheritance."
