Swinging bat kills baby at prayer service in Wheaton, Minn.

Two angry men were involved in a dispute with the father of the 14-month-old girl, authorities in Wheaton said.

By VINCE TUSS, Star Tribune

Last update: September 4, 2009 - 11:04 PM

It started with a dispute over a washer and dryer.

It ended with the death of a 14-month-old girl, hit in the head with a baseball bat during a prayer service.

The two men arrested in the Thursday night attack, as well as the dead girl's family, were members of Thy Kingdom Come Church in Wheaton, in western Minnesota, site of the attack, the church's pastor said.

Pastor Danny Barnes said he had given the washer and dryer to the girl's father, Claude Hankins, but one of the men had felt the appliances should go to him.

That led to an argument earlier Thursday in downtown Wheaton, the Traverse County Sheriff's Office said. The city is about 75 miles south of Moorhead, near the border with North and South Dakota.

Barnes was out of town at his son's cross country meet when he got a phone call about the dispute, which he said took place between Hankins and one of the men at a thrift store between 4:30 and 5 p.m.

"I thought they had resolved it, with discussion," Barnes said.

But it wasn't over.

Armed with the bat and a 2-by-4, David E. Collins and Darryl G. Kennedy burst into the church, where a prayer service was going, on just before 7 p.m., the Sheriff's Office said.

They came in, swinging, through separate doors, Barnes said.

Collins, who had the bat, went after Hankins, who grabbed a chair to defend himself, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Within 30 seconds, the girl had been hit, Barnes said.

"It was the worst 30 seconds in time," he said.

The assailants probably didn't know that the girl had been hit, the pastor added, as Collins kept chasing Hankins around the church.

But at some point, Collins and Kennedy left and a call went out to authorities.

The girl was taken to Wheaton Community Hospital and later to MeritCare in Fargo, N.D., where she died.

The pastor returned to Wheaton later Thursday and began trying to track down Collins. Through phone calls to relatives and others, Barnes said he caught up with him outside a bar in Brookings, S.D.

"He was sitting on a park bench outside the bar -- extremely intoxicated and distraught," Barnes said.

The pastor said he told Collins he had to come back to Wheaton with him. They drove back to town, and Barnes said they went to the municipal airport and called authorities, where Collins was taken into custody around midnight.

The Sheriff's Office wasn't releasing information about the arrests, saying Collins later surrendered and was booked into the Traverse County jail. Kennedy "was talked down," the Sheriff's Office said, and was arrested and also jailed.

Authorities said that the men were being held on suspicion of second-degree assault and that charges were pending with the Traverse County attorney's office.

According to Wheaton police, Collins is 56 and Kennedy 43.

The Ramsey County medical examiner's office was conducting an autopsy. The child's name was not being released pending notification of all relatives.

Barnes said the girl had an older sister, as well as two stepbrothers who live elsewhere.

Barnes, whose church has 70 registered members, said it does a lot of work with drug and alcohol treatment. And he said that alcohol played a large part in the argument and its escalation.

He said during services Sunday he plans to address "the role of alcohol and drugs in our society and the lack of respect."

Barnes also plans to minister to the men and the girl's family, to get the men to pray for forgiveness and repentance, and to help the girl's family find a way to forgive.

"I hope when we get through this terrible tragedy, something is learned."

Vince Tuss • 612-673-7692

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