A South Florida pastor and community leader was fatally stabbed by a man he was trying to help. According to CBS News, the suspect, identified as 44-year-old James Dawkins, had been allowed to stay in the Westview Baptist Church on a temporal basis.
The victim, Antwane ‘A-D’ Lenoir, 41, served as a pastor at the church for 15 years. Authorities said Lenoir acted selflessly on the day he died, adding that the fatal April 6 incident occurred when the victim was making a locksmith change the church’s locks.
Authorities said Lenoir and Dawkins got into a verbal altercation while the victim and the locksmith were at the church. The argument later escalated and Dawkins repeatedly stabbed Lenoir without any provocation. The suspect is said to have fled the scene in the wake of the attack.
“I learned a lot from my husband except, you know, of course, how to live without him,” Lenoir’s wife of 20 years, Bree, said.
Bree also told CBS News that her deceased husband was a “very good example of a selfless individual, a joy-filled person. He always smiled, even if things were looking kind of grim or dreary, you wouldn’t know it by his countenance.”
“His life is not when it ended. It’s not even about when it started. It’s about what he did in between to make his life count,” Bree added. She also said that’s the memory she wants their children to have of him.
“They have their moments and I expect that that’s gonna be the way it is indefinitely, you know, going forward. But, they remember their dad as the guy, the guy that when he comes, he, he’ll play games with them, he’ll, you know, text in the house when he was funny about texting in the house.”
Dawkins, who has since been arrested, faces murder charges.
