The family of a Chicago pastor and his wife are asking for prayers while the couple fight for their lives following an unprovoked attack, reports say.
The Christian Headlines said Pastor Timothy Johnson and his wife, Renee, were brutally assaulted last Saturday by Elijah Rule Hill Prince.
Meanwhile, the Christian Post reported that Johnson is the minister of Salem Baptist Church in Chicago's south side. The Christian Post said Prince "chewed off pieces of the couple's ears and gouged both their eyes" and is now facing charges for attempted murder and aggravated battery besides undergoing psychiatric evaluation.
Johnson's daughter, Destinee, posted on Facebook regarding her parents' attack and asked for prayers.
"I am heartbroken to share this news. This weekend my parents were brutally attacked, what's in the article is my family's reality. This is not a dream, this is not a movie, this is not an episode of a crime show--this is our life," Destinee said pertaining to the article she wrote at GoFundMe that she created for her parents.
"I don't have the words to say, sometimes I don't have the strength but the strength of my parents keep me going. We do need your prayers. We need your love," she added. "But also need some financial support to get through this unbelievable situation. Our lives have been forever changed."
"Please share. Please donate. Please pray for our family," she stressed.
According to the article she wrote in GoFundMe, the pastor was "doing yard work" for their 95-year old mother who they have been caretakers of for some time. The page contained an article on Destinee's interview with CBS Chicago where she said Prince approached her father to sell him something but was refused. This prompted Prince to hit his father with a shovel he found nearby.
The Christian Headlines added that the pastor suffered several abrasions on the face, a slash on the head, and a fractured orbital bone after being punched in the head and shoved with a three-inch wood in the left eye by Prince. The report added that Prince used his bare hands to gouge the pastor's eyes and bit his ears then spat into the pastor's mouth.
In addition, the Christian Post said Prince grabbed the pastor's wife in the hair when she came rushing in to help her husband. Prince ripped off "large chunks of her ears with his teeth" and gouged her eyes with his bare fingers, too. Prince also spit on her and kicked her several times.
The assault, as per result of investigations cited by the Christian Post, left the pastor's wife with lacerations, bruises on her face and head, two black eyes, and missing chunks from both ears.
The Chicago Sun Times, on the other hand, reported that Judge John Lyke, Jr., the presiding judge of the case, said listening to the allegations against Prince provided by the Cook County prosecutors made him think he was "listening to a horror movie." The prosecutors even said that Prince admitted that the blood covering him was not his but belonged to "peasants" pertaining to the pastor and his wife.
The GoFundMe page has raised $153,619 from 2,100 donors, as of writing time, that has already exceeded its $50,000 goal.
