Rochester pastor charged for shooting granddaughter

Published 11:11 am Friday, January 18, 2013

ROCHESTER — A Rochester pastor is charged with a felony for shooting and wounding his granddaughter after mistaking her for an intruder last month.

Sixty-one-year-old Stanley Wilkinson is charged with intentional discharge of a firearm that endangered safety. A court appearance is scheduled Feb. 25.

Wilkinson told police he grabbed his pistol after hearing a noise outside his house Dec. 10 and fired two rounds after seeing what he thought was someone trying to open the deck door. It turned out to be his 16-year-old granddaughter, who was struck once in the neck.

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The teen had been living with her grandparents. She told police she left the house without her grandparents knowing.

Wilkinson is pastor at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Rochester. Calls left for him were not immediately returned Thursday night.