A Kumasi-based pastor Monday afternoon shot himself dead in the darkness of his room.

Rev Opoku Agyemang, Head Pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Kwadaso-Nzema in Kumasi, locked himself up in the room before committing the act at about 4pm.

The pastor was said to be recovering from a short illness and had gone to hospital a day before his untimely death.

It is unclear why the pastor took his own life. The body has since been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital mortuary in Kumasi for autopsy.

The 63-year-old Rev. Agyemang was survived by a wife and five children.

The deceased's wife told journalists she was returning from the market when she heard the gunshot. She said she rushed in only to see the lifeless body of her husband in a pool of blood.

His church members who thronged the residence were bemused by the sad event and could not fathom what may have prompted the man of God to do such a thing.

Sympathizers who visited the mission house where the incident occurred wailed and mourned.

A church member described the late pastor as a very quiet and reserved person who had no known problem with the church or any member of the congregation.

He said when the members of the church learnt of his sickness on Sunday, they interceded for him in prayers, describing the unfortunate incident as worrying.