The sermon was just about to begin Sunday morning as Emmanuel Fleming walked up the steps of South Austin’s Friendship Baptist Church accompanied by his three young children. It was at this West Side church that Fleming sought to turn over a new leaf.–

He served as an usher here.  His children, all under the age of 10, were baptized here. And on Sunday, his life was cut short here. Around 11:15 a.m., two gunmen wearing bandanas ran toward the broad wooden doors of the church and opened fire in the direction of Fleming and another man, Michael Swift, 46, who was visiting the church, police and witnesses said.

The men attempted to take cover behind a nearby retaining wall as Fleming cried for his …