Three men burst into two seperate churches this past Sunday yelling, "God is dead!" The incident caused a disruption and they were escorted out by church members. It was a situation that caused fear for church members.
Shreveport (LA) Police say the man first ran into the Heritage Baptist Church at Kirby Street and Creswell Avenue, yelling "God is dead," and a few other things, before getting escorted out.
"I thought it was humorous in the sense that if there's no God why spend so much of your time trying to disprove that which doesn't exist," said Heritage Baptist Church Pastor Earl Blackburn.
The suspects repeated the offense again just a mile away at First Baptist Church of Shreveport. "It was right in the middle of service. He just came in and started screaming about God isn't real and it's all fake, it's all a lie," said church member Michael Morales. "It was just very disturbing," said Morales wife, Elizabeth. Morales says he and several other men watched the man go outside and get into a pick-up truck with two others passengers.
"A couple of guys called the cops as soon as he walked out and we gave them a great description of the guys and of their truck and we got their license plate number," said Morales.
This is a church security incident that could have escalated very quickly. Notice the church members were able to keep their wits, and reportd a great description, which led to the suspects being apprehended.
Due to the descriptions, police quickly found the truck and charged the driver with DWI. They believe he had just dropped off the other two men at Highland Park, where the men were eventually arrested.
A police spokesman stated, "I just checked with detectives in major crimes and we're going to try to book them in under a hate crime. This could have gotten out of hand quick."
What is your church doing about security?
[from Church Security Member by Church Security and Safety Today]
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