Pastor argued over moral authoritiy before being killed at bar

Last updated: 2025/03/25 at 9:27 PM

By heraldtoday Add a Comment

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, March 25, 2025

The late Pastor Ricky Floyd led the Pursuit of God Church in Memphis, Tennessee. | Screenshot: Facebook/Pursuit of God Church

Shortly before he was shot dead by a woman outside a bar during an altercation in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 12, Ricky Floyd, the late senior lead pastor of Pursuit of God Church in Frayser, argued with her and another man who questioned his moral authority when he allegedly tried to share religious tracts with them.

John Keith Perry, an attorney for Samantha Marion, the 42-year-old woman charged with the fatal shooting of the 58-year-old pastor, told WREG that Marion and a man identified as Steven Newsom, whom she met on the night of the shooting, got into a heated discussion about the Bible with Floyd.

“Reverend Floyd evidently had some, I call them tracts, but the small magazine publication that are of a religious nature, and passes them to the people that are at the bar,” Perry told WREG.

“We are also told the argument centered around how Floyd could tell anyone anything when he, a pastor, was at this bar and grill at 1 a.m.,” Perry said. “We are also told that Samantha Marion was getting the best of him in that argument.”

Perry said that Floyd grabbed his tracts and stormed out of the bar.

“What was said exactly is not remembered by everybody, but there was no kind of a threat. Or ‘I’ll see you in the parking lot’ or anything like that,” said Perry.

Perry said as everyone was leaving outside the bar, Floyd approached Marion, and Newsom got between them. Floyd allegedly knocked Newsom to the ground.

“He stands in front of Reverend Floyd. He’s knocked to the ground by Reverend Floyd. And when he does, the back of his head hits the pavement and he becomes a little stunned or dazed,” Perry said. “Reverend Floyd then takes the telephone of Miss Marion, and he throws it to the ground and he gives a couple of insults or what have you and then starts to walk off.”

A screenshot from a video recorded by Samantha Marion purports to show him aggressively approaching her moments before he was fatally shot in March 2025. | YouTube/ABC24 Memphis

At this point, Perry says, Marion picked up her phone and started recording the license plate of the truck Floyd was driving. He said his client had never met him before.

“Whatever triggered him, he was upset with Mrs. Marion,” Kevin Massey, another of Marion’s attorneys, told the news outlet. “He fought through two individuals to get to her, and watching him from the vehicle and approach her, it was clear that his intentions was definitely not to give her a hug and say, ‘Hey, let’s work this out.’ But he had aggression in his heart and in his mind.”

Police say Marion called police to Momma’s Bar and Kitchen, located at 855 Kentucky Road in Memphis, at about 1:17 a.m. on March 12 and confessed to shooting Floyd.

Video surveillance footage reportedly shows Floyd throwing Marion’s phone and a beer can before hopping into his vehicle and driving away. Marion allegedly walked into the roadway and appeared to record the pastor’s vehicle with her phone.

Floyd exits his car and confronts Marion before a witness separates them. As Floyd backed away, police said Marion walked toward the pastor, who was seen falling to the ground and never getting up again.

Samantha Marion, 42, has been charged with voluntary manslaughter for the shooting death of Memphis, Tenn., pastor, Ricky Floyd. | Memphis Police Department

“It is with great sadness that I address the tragic loss of Pastor Ricky Floyd from the Pursuit of God Church in Frayser. Pastor Floyd was a respected leader in our community, both in Memphis and beyond,” Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said in a statement after the shooting. “We understand the deep shock and grief this has caused, and our hearts go out to Pastor Floyd’s family, his congregation, and all who knew him.”

Floyd leaves behind his wife, Sheila, three adult children, one daughter-in-law and two granddaughters, according to the church’s website. The pastor is listed as the driver behind several community initiatives.

He also served as president of Eden Estates Apartments, a 52-unit complex in the Frayser community; and president of The Husband Institute, Inc., a boys-to-men mentoring program and the founder of the School of Marriage Enhancement.

His funeral has been set for March 28, the Pursuit of God Church said in a statement on Facebook. Viewing will begin at 10 a.m., and the service will start at 11 a.m. at Greater Imani Church, located at 3824 Austin Peay Highway.