Valley pastor lost friend in S.C. shooting

YOUNGSTOWN

The killing of nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, S.C., has affected the Rev. Brandon A.A.J. Davis, pastor of St. Andrewes AME Church, in a very personal way.

State Sen. Clementa Pinckney, church pastor, was among those killed.

Pastor Davis said he became friends with Pastor Pinckney because, at different times, they both attended Allen University, Columbia, S.C., which is operated by the AME Church, and both served as president of Alpha Phi Alpha, a service fraternity.

“Through those affiliations we became acquainted and became friends,” Pastor Davis said.

Pastor Pinckney wrote a letter of recommendation for Pastor Davis to become pastor at St. Andrewes, 521 W. Earle Ave., the oldest church of African American heritage in Mahoning County.

Pastor Davis said Pastor Pinckney’s death is a loss for his church and the nation.

“He was an example of service as a Christian leader in the AME and the world,” Pastor Davis said. “I feel like the MLK of my generation was gunned down.”

Read much more in Friday's Vindicator.