Church and family members are mourning the death of a 62-year-old woman with Macon ties who was fatally shot Wednesday while picking up her adult daughter at an Opelika, Ala., community college.

Brenda Marshall Watson was killed when her estranged son-in-law fired shots into the minivan she was driving just before 4 p.m. CDT. Her mother, 93-year-old Maude Ethell Marshall of Macon, was riding in the front seat, said Opelika police Capt. Allan Elkins.

Watson was in the parking lot of Southern Union Community College to pick up her daughter, 36-year-old Bethany Lynn May, who was attending classes there.

Elkins said the college was holding registration Wednesday, and a lot of students were on campus. Watson was parked in front of an academic building.

May was either getting into or getting out of the van when the shooting started.

May’s estranged husband, 34-year-old Thomas Franklin May III of Auburn, Ala., drove up beside the van and opened fire through a vehicle window, Elkins said.

He is being held without bond at the Lee County, Ala., jail on charges of capital murder, three counts of attempted murder and shooting into an occupied vehicle. Because May is charged with capital murder, he is ineligible for bond, Elkins said.

Bethany Lynn May, of Opelika, and Marshall also were injured by the gunfire.

May’s 4-year-old daughter, who was sitting in the back seat, was cut by flying glass from the minivan’s window. The girl’s father is Thomas May, according to police.

Watson, a Miller High School graduate, and her husband, Donald, split their time between Watson’s mother’s home in Macon and a home in Opelika. Donald Watson works at nearby Auburn University, said Buddy Judd, one of Brenda Watson’s cousins.

Judd described his cousin as a woman who “did a lot of things for a lot of people.” She was a quiet woman, but when needed she was the first to protect her family.

“She was just a fine lady,” he said. “What’s happened is just a terrible tragedy for our family.”

Another cousin, Beppie Lanier Rieg of Johnson City, Tenn., said the first word that comes to her mind when thinking about Watson is gentle.

“My brothers just said the same thing,” Rieg relayed through her daughter by e-mail. “She was such a gentle spirit growing up and remained that way through life.”

Brenda Watson was a lifelong member of Macon’s Bellevue Baptist Church on Price Road. Her mother, Marshall, has been a member there longer than anyone else, said the Rev. Phillip Johnson, the church’s youth pastor.

Johnson described the Watsons as a couple who were always eager to volunteer to help in the church’s ministries and missions projects.

“They’re easily folks we would consider to be saints here on Earth,” he said.

Elkins said police think the motive for the shooting was domestic violence-related. He wouldn’t say whether police had responded to previous domestic complaints involving the couple.

Court records show Bethany L. May filed a request seeking protection from abuse against Thomas May a week ago, but online records don’t provide details. A judge issued a temporary order Monday and scheduled a hearing for May 11. Records don’t indicate whether Thomas May had received copies of the documents.

Police have not said what caliber of gun was used.

Watson was shot in the upper torso. Marshall was shot in the neck and back. Bethany May was shot in the upper right arm, Elkins said.

Marshall returned to Macon after the shooting, family members said Thursday.

Police would not say Thursday whether Bethany May had been released from the hospital.

Thomas May was arrested just before 7 p.m. CDT Wednesday in a Southern Union Community College parking lot after he identified himself to reporters, according to police.

May reportedly approached a photographer and asked to use his cell phone and identified himself as the shooter. Members of the media called 911, and police arrived within minutes.

In Alabama, a conviction on a capital murder charge has two potential outcomes. A person can be sentenced to life without parole or to death, Elkins said.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.