Utah Church Shooting: Man Shoots Father-In-Law In The Head During Father’s Day Mass, Two Days Before 66th Birthday

Utah resident James Evans, 65, was shot in the head by his son-in-law during a Father's Day mass at the Just Catholic Church in Ogden, two days before the victim's 66th birthday.

Evans, who was shot in front of a congregation of 300 people, survived the shooting after turning his head in another direction and was in critical condition Monday, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

The Utah father-in-law is at the intensive care unit at McDay-Dee Hospital in Ogden.

The suspect, 35-year-old Charles Richard Jennings Jr., walked into the church during preparation for communion with his wife (the victim's daughter) holding his hand, where he proceeded to shoot his father-in-law in the back of his head.

Parishioners at the Utah church immediately ducked after hearing the shooting and fell silent.

"It was echoing in my head so loud," said Rebecca Ory Hernandez, who was only a few feet away from the Evans with her 5-year-old son, according to the Associated Press.

"I was waiting for another gunman."

She grabbed her son, threw him under the pew and got on top of him. She heard the pastor blurt out an expletive into his microphone, the Associated Press also reports.

An official explanation for the Utah church shooting on Father's Day has not been released but police officials speculate that the suspect might have been drunk or on drugs and that he had personal issues with his father-in-law.

James Evans turns 66 on Tuesday, but will spend his birthday at an intensive care unit in Utah.