A Fort Worth Baptist seminary student has become the fourth American missionary to die of wounds from a drive-by shooting in Iraq.
The Southern Baptist International Mission Board identifies the
dead Texan as 28-year-old David E. McDonnall of Rowlett. Board
officials say he died today en route to a military support hospital
in Baghdad.
His wife -- 26-year-old Carrie Taylor McDonnall of Rowlett --
remains in critical condition at the Baghdad hospital.
The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth say
the McDonnalls took a break from their studies in November to go on
the humanitarian mission.

Also killed in yesterday's attack were 60-year-old Larry T.
Elliott and his 58-year-old wife, Jean Dover Elliott, both of Cary,
North Carolina -- and 38-year-old Karen Denise Watson of
Bakersfield, California. The Elliotts had ties to Waco. All three of their children graduated from Baylor University and the couple had many friends in Central Texas according to family friends.

A U-S military spokesman says they were in a car in the Iraqi
city of Mosul (MOH'-suhl) when they were attacked with automatic
weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

The Elliotts had served with the International Mission Board in Honduras since 1978 and transferred to the Middle East in February 2004. Watson had been with the board since March 2003.
David E. McDonnall, 28, and Carrie Taylor McDonnall, 26, of Rowlett, Texas, have served with the International Mission Board since November 2003.

IMB President Jerry Rankin said all Southern Baptists shared the sorrow and grief of the families and co-workers. The IMB Web site quoted Rankin. "In times like this, there are no words that will take away the pain of a loved one's violent death," Rankin said. "Everyone in the IMB family and everyone who loves Southern Baptists' overseas workers are grieving with the family members and co-workers of these precious souls.
"We are grateful that God himself comes alongside us in our deepest sorrow and comforts us in a way no one else can."

Monday's attack occurred shortly after 5 p.m. on the eastern side of Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, according to a statement by Army Lt. Col. Joseph J. Piek, a military spokesman. The Americans were traveling in the same car, without a military escort.
An off-duty Iraqi police officer found the Americans' vehicle shortly after the shooting and took the two wounded civilians to an Iraqi hospital. U.S. Army helicopters then took them to an Army hospital in Mosul. One was in surgery Monday night, and the other was in the hospital's intensive care unit in guarded condition, the Army said.

Military officials said Monday night that they were trying, with assistance from Iraqi police and the FBI, to learn details of the attack.