Pastor Jamie Coots, one of the stars of National Geographic’s “Snake Salvation,” died on Saturday after he was bitten by a snake, police told WBIR.
Coots was allegedly bit while handling a snake at his Pentecostal church in Kentucky, Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, and later died in his home, according to WBIR.
A medical team went to Coot’s house, but he refused medical care, Middlesboro Police Chief Jeff Sharpe told WBIR.
Coots was a “serpent handler” who believed that snake bites will not hurt believers, according to CNN.
He had five rattlesnakes confiscated last year by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, where owning venomous snakes is banned.
Image via National Geographic Channel
