The shooting at the Nancy Street church was not a random act of violence, according to police.
“This was ad domestic situation between family members,” said Sgt. Creigee Coleman of the Dayton Police Department. “The public is safe. It’s not a person going around arbitrarily firing shooting inside churches.”
The suspect, Daniel Schooler, a 68-year-old Dayton man, was still at the church when police arrived. Those who knew the alleged shooter said he had mental issues and a violent past.
Daniel Schooler is being held without bond on a murder charge and is scheduled to appear in court today.
Witnesses said they saw Daniel Schooler come into the church and sit down for a few minutes before walking to a private office in the back of the church.
“It wasn’t a minute, and I heard two shots,” said Alberta Blayth, a lifelong church member and Dayton resident. “So I just got everybody out of the church … We kept hearing shooting.”
Curtis Booker, the church’s choir director, said the congregation of about 20 was terrified as they fled toward the exit following the eruption of gunshots.
“It was a scary situation,” he said.
Blayth characterized the pastor as a “good man.”
“He did everything he could for the community,” she said. “He really wanted to help people.”
Joyce Napier, the niece of the victim and the suspect, said Daniel Schooler had a history of mental illness which she believes played a role in the shooting.
“I don’t think that would be anything that a brother would want to do,” she said. “I would think it has to be something’s going on in his head to do something like that because we were raised to love. Family matters – that’s the way were raised.”
The Schooler brothers were close while growing up, but mental illness caused Daniel to stray away from the family, Napier said.
“They were both from the same tree,” she said “So they were both good guys, good men, good uncles.”
William Schooler — a 1963 graduate of Dunbar High School and a decorated Vietnam Veteran who received the Bronze Star — was a former Dayton Board of Education member.
He taught in the Dayton Public district from 1972 until 1978 before becoming a principal in the Jefferson Twp. district from 1978 until 1997, when he retired.
The Schooler family is traumatized by the incident, Napier said , but added the family will unite as they try to deal with the tragedy.
“We lost two uncles,” Napier said. “One to the crime and one to death. But because we know God, we’re going to stick together and get through this.”
Court records show Daniel Schooler has a troubled and violent past. In 2001, he was charged with felonious assault with a firearm specification and carrying a concealed weapon, according to Montgomery County Common Pleas court records.
Schooler originally plead not guilty to the charges by reason of insanity. He later withdrew that plea and pleaded guilty to one count of felonious assault.
Court documents note Schooler “may be mentally ill and in need of treatment.” He was sentenced to five years of probation.
The following year, Schooler attacked Dina Carolus, who was then 27, at his home on Lorenz Avenue on May 7, 2002, according to a police report.
Carolus said she and her 4-year-old son visited Schooler who she knew through mutual friends. During the visit, Schooler began pacing and was acting odd before he knocked her unconscious, the report states. After she woke, Schooler accused her of stealing his money and repeatedly threatened to kill her, the report states. Carolus said he was slurring words and kept calling her someone else’s name.
Carolus reported Schooler hit, kicked and bit her. He pulled out a pocket knife and cut her. He choked her and repeatedly cut her thighs, legs, back and abdomen during an assault that lastesd about 40 minutes.
Schooler was indicted on felony charges of kidnapping and felonious assault. He was convicted of felonious assault with a deadly weapon and spent two years in prison.
Schooler seemed harmless to most, Carolus said. But she said he was frighteningly violent and showed no anxiety or remorse following her assault.
“He’s a very scary man. … He is crazy,” she said. “What he did to me I will have to live with the rest of my life.”
Schooler attacked a friend with a golf club, striking him three times on the head without provocation in 2007, according to police records. The friend said Schooler has mental problems and had attacked him before, once giving him a black eye.
Schooler was referred for mental health court, according to police records. However the victim declined to pursue charges and the case was dismissed.
The following year, two men said Schooler threw a hammer at them and charged them while carrying a six-inch knife in 2008, according to police records. Schooler had assaulted people in the past and has a tendency to be violent when he does not take his medication, the report states.
A Dayton community group called for improved gun violence regulations and enforcement following the shooting
“We are saddened to be here today at the site of yet another terrible act of violence. Let us pause for a moment of silence in memory of William Schooler,” Community Progress Institute of Dayton said in a statement.
Community Progress Institute of Dayton is a non-profit “devoted to improving Dayton’s families, neighborhoods, and communities,” according to the group’s website.
“It has become obvious that the current regulations and enforcement of the regulations pertaining to gun violence are not sufficient and we need to come up with a better way,” CPI said in the statement.
Dayton City Commissioner Joey Williams said he was with William Schooler on Saturday night at the Dunbar-Trotwood high school basketball game.
Williams said Schooler was outspoken and thoughtful and gave valuable advice. Williams said Schooler’s death is shocking and tragic.
Williams and Schooler have discussed ways to reduce violence in the community.
“For him to be a victim of violence is just extremely saddening,” he said.
Staff Writer Andy Sedlak contributed to this report.
About the Author