A man has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a well-known Opa-locka pastor at his church over the weekend.
Pastor A.D. Lenoir was found stabbed to death at Westview Baptist Church in the 13300 block of Northwest 24th Court on Saturday evening, Miami-Dade Police confirmed.
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A suspect, 44-year-old James Dawkins, was arrested Sunday on a first-degree murder charge in the killing.
According to an arrest report, the 41-year-old Lenoir was found with stab wounds to the neck at the church, and pronounced dead at the scene.
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Investigators discovered Lenoir had contacted a locksmith to change several locks at the church and was with the locksmith when Dawkins, who lives on the premises, was involved in a verbal altercation with Lenoir, the report said.
The report said Dawkins stabbed Lenoir "without any provocation" multiple times then fled the scene on foot.
Dawkins was found on Sunday and taken into custody before being booked into jail. He remained held without bond Monday, records showed.
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Darryl Thomas, who said Lenoir was like a brother to him, said the pastor was trying to help Dawkins get back on his feet as he went through "some issues." Lenoir let Dawkins stay at the church, but that arrangement was coming to an end.
"Pastor Lenoir was trying to basically tell him he had to find somewhere else because he wasn’t doing right by the rules and regulations that he gave him to stay here," Thomas said. "That’s when everything turned to the left and we’re at this situation right now."
Lenoir's mother spoke with NBC6 on Monday to remember her son.
"I think about the good times, all I can do is think about the good times, there’s so much I could say, I can’t say,“ Helen Lenoir said. "So all I could do is smile, because that is what he would want his mother to do, keep going on, he said that several times, keep moving on, and that is what I’m going to do."
She added that Lenoir's grandmother knew he'd become a preacher.
"His grandmother was a praying grandmother," she said. “She would always pray and she said he was an anointed child."
Lenoir was known by many in the community including Opa-locka Mayor John H. Taylor, who remembered the pastor in a Facebook post on Sunday.
"The City of Opa-locka grieves the loss of a Noble Man and friend. We were blessed to have this Great Man as apart of our community, serving in many capacities to ensure that our residents had a voice," the post read. "As a unified body we pray that God strengthens his family, friends and ministry through these trying time. The legacy that Pastor A.D Lenoir leaves behind will live on. Thank you for your service. You will be missed."
