Posted on 12/26/2008 12:43:45 PM PST by restornu
(KSL News) Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Henderson, Texas, stopped an armed robber in his tracks when he tried to steal congregation members' wallets.
KLTV reports a gunman walked into an LDS church building last Sunday and fired a shot out the door. The women and children ran for cover, but the men formed a semi-circle around the gunman and urged him to leave.
The man ran off with no money and without hurting anyone.
CTR
Yes!
Pity that. A true happy ending would have been the thug being carted off lifeless on a gurney.
But one can't have everything I suppose.
L
They did it wrong.
Either shoot em, or keep em till occupied the police show up. Don’t let em go.
Over here!
This is what I’m talking about. Without the Christian reserve.
Better hope the guy was not an illegal alien. The church will be sued for cultural bias and the men forced to undergo sensitivity training.
I'm betting at least one of the men was armed. Maybe with nothing more than a tire iron or pipe wrench, but I don't see an armed robber just slinking away from unarmed victims.
On the other hand, that might be why he got away intact.
This is why, when the crappola hits the fan, I would rather be in a Mormon community than just about any other group.
Good for them!
Why the assumption that he was there to take money? Nothing says he made any kind of demand or indicated what his intention was other than the one shot he fired. It makes no sense to attempt a robbery that way.
Male Church Members Form Human Barrier to Shield Women From Gunman
By KENNETH DEAN Staff Writer
HENDERSON — The Sunday Christmas program had just finished, children were playing and adults were enjoying refreshments when a gunshot penetrated sounds of the joyful occasion.
An armed gunman clad in black and wearing a ski mask had made his way into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 1700 Elm St. in Henderson. He began demanding money.
Darlene Lanius said she was in the back of the fellowship hall when she heard the gunshot.
“The kids were running around, and those that were still here were just talking. I heard a loud noise, but didn’t know what it was until one of the sisters came in and said a man tried to rob her and ‘he has a gun,’” she said.
Henderson Police Lt. Craig Sweeney said the gunman had moments earlier approached the woman outside the church building.
“A male member rushed up and got between the woman and the suspect. The guy told the member to give him his wallet, and the member said he didn’t carry a wallet,” he said.
That was when the robber fired into the air.
“The two members went back inside the church, and he followed them inside pointing his gun at members as he demanded money from them,” Sweeney said.
“I saw the guy come in the church and he was pointing his gun at everyone saying, ‘Give me your wallets. Give me your wallets,’” Mrs. Lanius said.
She said the women quickly led the children out of the fellowship hall.
“When we knew it wasn’t a joke, we got all of the children into a safe room,” she said.
The men then formed a human barrier in front of the women and kept the gunman in front of the fellowship hall. They refused to give the gunman their wallets until Mrs. Lanius’ brother, Jerry White, handed over his wallet, which held $23.
She said the masked man was holding a yellow plastic bag. She believes his intention was to steal everyone’s wallets.
“I guess my brother thought if he gave the man something he would just leave,” she said.
After receiving the wallet, the gunman backed out of the church with some of the men of the congregation following.
“He fired one more shot into the air and then took off,” Mrs. Lanius said.
Sweeney said in his career with the department, which began in the 1980s, there had never been a robbery of parishioners inside a church.
“I have never seen anything like this. Not here in Henderson anyway,” he said.
“This certainly had the potential to be a real bad scene. We’re lucky it worked out like it did and no one was injured,” he said.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to contact Henderson Police Department at 903-657-3512.
Mrs. Lanius said her sister-in-law was the victim of a brutal attack at a church in Longview several years ago, but brutal acts would not keep her family from attending church.
“You never can tell when something like this will happen. The Lord was with us, no one was injured, and everyone is very thankful it turned out the way it did,” Mrs. Lanius said.
http://www.tylerpaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081223/NEWS01/812230257&template=printart
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