Goodman, Mo. ? The first man shot in the rural Missouri church sanctuary was a grandfather of three who had shepherded the local community of Micronesian immigrants for about 15 years.

His uncle started apologizing to the gunman in an attempt to defuse the situation, a witness said. Instead he was shot next.

Members of the tightly knit Micronesian community struggled Monday to comprehend why a gunman stormed into their church service, killed three religious leaders, and wounded five others. All of those who died were Micronesian immigrants and pastors or associate pastors, family members said.

“He was a very generous, outgoing person,” Lou Rehobson-Manuel said of her brother, Kernal Rehobson, 43, the first man killed in the Sunday rampage. “He was kind of a shepherd for all our sheep.”

Eiken Elam Saimon, 52, pleaded not guilty Monday to three charges of first-degree murder, four counts of assault, one count of felonious restraint for holding the congregation hostage, and one count of armed criminal action. A fifth charge of assault was pending.

Bond was set at $1 million for Saimon, also a Micronesian immigrant but not a member of the church. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 18.

About 600 Pacific islanders live in and around Neosho, which is tucked in southwest Missouri, many of them drawn in the 1990s by plentiful jobs in the poultry and manufacturing industries.

The other victims were Kernal Rehobson’s uncle, Intenson Rehobson, 44, and a family friend, Kuhpes Jesse Ikosia, 53. Intenson Rehobson and Kuhpes Jesse Ikosia were also from Goodman.

The shooting happened Sunday afternoon in the sanctuary of First Congregational Church, where the Micronesian group of Congregationalists has met for several years to hold a separate service in their own language, Pingelapese. About 50 people were at the service.