Thursday, November 6, 2003 

By WILL VASH Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Dateline: FORT PIERCE, FL

Benjamin Mobley’s pulpit wasn’t grand, and the streets outside the small cinder-block building where his church stood were rough-and-tumble.

But day after day he returned, crossing from his home west of 25th Street, pedaling down side streets on his old bicycle, past ramshackle rooming houses and machine shops to his small piece of heaven near the corner of Avenue D and 13th Street.

It was there, at End Time Tabernacle Church, that he was gunned down Tuesday night as he was teaching Scripture.

The assailant, allegedly the estranged husband of the assistant pastor of the church, has not been found after disappearing into a rainy night, leaving the small congregation in shock but resolved to carry the Rev. Benjamin Mobley’s message forward.

Deacon Leroy Nettles, who was sitting near the door when it all happened, talked Wednesday of going on, finding strength after his “father figure” had been taken while sharing his love of God with others.

“It was an extreme act of jealousy and the devil moving,” Nettles said of losing his friend. “I thank God for a man like Pastor.”

‘Where’s my wife?’

It was the middle of Bible class, about 8 p.m., when Mobley’s wife, Betty, had just begun reading a passage from Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews from the New Testament: “Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us “

And in walked Aaron Anderson, an unlit cigar dangling from his lips, witnesses said.

“Where’s my wife? Where’s my wife?” he yelled, as Mobley asked his own wife to continue reading.

Shirley Gordon, the 39-year-old stepdaughter of Anderson and a member of the Bible class, said Wednesday that she repeatedly told him that her mother, Assistant Pastor Betty Anderson, was not inside the church.

“When he walked in here I think he knew what he was going to do” Gordon said. “My mother wasn’t there, but Pastor Mobley was.”

Anderson turned his attention to Mobley, who was still trying to conduct the Bible class, and said, “You took my wife,” according to a police report.

That’s when Anderson, 64, went into his pockets fishing for something, witnesses said.

Jackie Davis, 54, said she saw the gun come out of the pocket.

“I said, ‘Pastor, pastor, he got a gun,’ ” Davis remembered, but it was too late.

Mobley was sprawled on the floor with a mortal gunshot wound to the chest. Nettles escaped through the door he was sitting beside after first pushing his wife and another woman outside. And most of the other 15 or so people hit the floor, children climbing under the pews.

Anderson fled as Davis and Betty Mobley tried to keep pressure on the wound, Davis said.

“Pastor, we’re here for you. Pastor, we’re here for you,” Davis said she whispered to him as they waited for paramedics.

Mobley, 65, never regained consciousness and died a short time later at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute.

Search for gunman

Police continued to search for Anderson Wednesday and believe he may be in Orlando, where police said he has often gone before. Police responded to a report of someone matching his description on Ninth Street about 5 p.m. Wednesday, but that report proved untrue.

Parishioners described Anderson as a man bent on control.

Gordon said that throughout Anderson’s 26-year marriage to her mother, he always accused his wife of infidelity, especially with numerous pastors, male and female.

“It didn’t matter what church she would go to because he always accused her,” Gordon said.

Alfredia Norman, 51, said Aaron Anderson had no grounds to suspect his wife, who joined the church about six years ago, of infidelity.

“He had no reason to think anything,” Norman said. “I just can’t believe this happened.”

Gordon said Betty Anderson had broken off the relationship for good about a year ago, although the Andersons remained married. Aaron Anderson moved to California but recently returned and expected Betty Anderson to welcome him back, Gordon said.

“He would always say, ‘I’ll kill you and the pastor,’ ” Gordon said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think he would shoot anyone.”

Aaron Anderson has been charged with a homicide before – in Hillsborough County in 1976 – but that charge was dismissed. His criminal record includes convictions for vagrancy, fraud, disorderly conduct, aggravated assault and discharging a firearm in public, according to state records.

Betty Anderson, who could not be reached for comment, was told by police she should not talk to the media, her daughter said.

On Wednesday afternoon, about a dozen from Mobley’s congregation of 30 returned to the church to share in their grief and pray.

Began the church

Mobley was remembered fondly as a man who was so dedicated to his calling that he would often ride his bicycle several miles to read the Bible with someone.

“This man enjoyed talking and praying with anyone,” said Nettles, the deacon. “He showed me how to start loving again.”

Members of the congregation said Mobley began his church about 10 years ago, moving at one point from a storefront on the north side of Avenue D to the present solitary structure.

Business people also remembered Mobley, who was known for taking walks along Avenue D and spreading the gospel along the way.

A favorite stop for the pastor was Mary’s House of Soul Food, directly across the road from his church. He stopped in a lot for his favorite breakfast, a generous combination of grits, eggs and patty sausage.

“His conversation was always about the Lord,” said Mary Piton, 47, who helps her daughter at the restaurant. “He was a nice man. It shouldn’t have had to end like this. It’s bad when you go into a house of God and lose your life.”

Activities at End Time Tabernacle Church have been canceled for the week.

Nettles said that not long ago Mobley talked about what should happen if he should go away.

“He said, ‘One day I got to leave here. No matter what, you have to always keep going on,’ ” Nettles said. “We will.”

Staff researcher Krista Pegnetter contributed to this story.