BREAKING: Armed Security Guard Neutralizes Would-Be Mass Shooter At Michigan Church
A gunman opened fire during a service at a suburban Detroit church on Sunday, wounding at least one person before he was neutralized by an armed security guard, police announced.
The incident took place at the Crosspointe Community Church in Wayne, a city of about 17,000 people located about 25 miles west of Detroit, around 11 a.m. Sunday, the church’s pastor, Bobby Kelly Jr., told the Detroit News.
One person was shot in the leg, police said. After the gunman opened fire, a church member ran the shooter down with his truck, which gave the security guard time to respond. According to Kelly, the person who was shot in the leg was the security guard.
“He was run over by one of our members who saw this happening when he was coming into church,” Kelly said. Thankfully, no one else was injured in the attack, the pastor told the Detroit News. Roughly 150 people were attending the service at the time of the attack, he added.
The service was being streamed online when the gunman opened fire. Churchgoers, many of them children, could be seen ducking behind pews before scrambling to a back room of the building as gunfire could be heard outside.
Members of CrossPointe Community Church started a security team roughly a decade ago in response to violence committed at other places of worship around the United States, Kelly told the Detroit News. “We are sitting ducks to someone who wants to come and do harm,” he added.
“The Wayne Police Department responded to an active shooter at Crosspointe Church in Wayne this morning. Upon arrival, officers determined that a security guard for the church shot and killed the suspect,” the Wayne Police Department announced in a Facebook post. “One victim was shot in the leg. Please avoid the area. Officers are still actively investigating.”
“Our leadership and support teams are on the ground, at the scene, in Wayne, Michigan providing assistance and investigative support,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced in a statement of his own. The Department of Homeland Security is also reportedly assisting with the investigation.
This is a developing story.