Rashad Singletary was outside his house in West Baltimore to move his car after a family event Wednesday night when he heard someone behind him.

Singletary said the stranger told him, “Don’t scream. Don’t make any noise. Just give me the keys.”

Before Singletary could process what he heard, the man pulled out a gun and shot him in the foot. He dropped the keys, and the man drove off with the car. In an adrenaline rush, Singletary took off in his wife’s truck after him. But a few moments later he turned around.

“I know it was the spirit of God told me to stop, go back home,” he said.

It wasn’t until he returned home that he realized he had been shot and his foot was bleeding. His wife and mother called 911. It was around 11 p.m.

Singletary, the beloved head pastor at Mt. Olive Baptist Church of Turner Station, has worked in violence prevention programs in Baltimore for more than a decade. In the many years he has intervened and addressed people involved in high-risk situations, he said, this was the first time he was the victim of one.

For much of his career, Singletary worked with Safe Streets Baltimore and the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement to help mediate issues in the community and prevent violent outcomes. In recent years, Singletary said, he stepped away from community violence intervention work because responsibilities at his church began to ramp up as more members joined.

But this incident has “reignited a fire” in him.

“There’s still more work to be done,” he said, adding that even with the reduction in shootings in the city “the work of community violence intervention is still important.”

As of Friday, homicides and nonfatal shootings in Baltimore remained below the totals reported at this time in 2025. The city has recorded 29 homicides and 65 nonfatal shootings this year. Baltimore Police officers have been involved in five shootings in 2026.

During one of Singletary’s Bible study services this week, he told congregants they shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to their community.

Even after the shooting, Singletary said, “that’s still my message.”

“If anything, this incident showed me that I still have purpose,” Singletary said. “I still have a reason to work in the community, to share my faith, to provide resources, because I want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to someone else.”

While his injuries kept him from preaching at the church’s Good Friday service, called the Seven Last Words, the ministers at his church and other local pastors stepped up to host. Many of them acknowledged Singletary’s absence as they preached, evoking claps and supportive words from the crowd.

But a bullet to the foot couldn’t keep him from his church, which he has led since 2020, for more than a few days. The 37-year-old pastor said he would be back in front of his congregation for Easter Sunday, in a cast and seated.

“I’m so blessed that I’m able to get back up there,” he said. “I want people to know you don’t have to live in fear.”

Around Baltimore, family and friends have rallied around Singletary, including his wife, Robin Singletary, and his church community. Colleagues from his job as the deputy public information officer for the Baltimore City Fire Department offered their support.

Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace sat with him in the emergency room. Police Commissioner Richard Worley visited him after he returned home, and Mayor Brandon Scott also called to check in.

The Baltimore Police Department responded to the incident Wednesday and said it is investigating.

As he recovers, Singletary said, he is wrapping up a book he started six months ago called “Ministry in Dead Places,” which is about community engagement through hybrid faith organizations. He hopes it will teach churches and faith groups “how to do effective community engagement in high-risk spaces.”

No one has been arrested in connection with the shooting and car theft. Singletary said, “if I was to meet him, I would tell him I forgave him” because he understands the stranger may have turned to violence out of desperation.

“He doesn’t have to worry about me being vengeful,” he said.