It’s a sad fact of life and an awful commentary on our broken culture that churches need to have armed security guards.
But thank God that several men at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Mich., were armed and trained to respond to an attack. Their training and skills were put to the ultimate test on June 22, when Brian Anthony Browning, who was heavily armed and dressed in tactical gear, tried to enter the church. Their brave actions likely prevented the mass slaughter of Christians who were at the church that day to celebrate their annual Vacation Bible School program.
In an episode of “The World and Everything in It” podcast this week, church members and witnesses discussed that harrowing day.
Sound technician Dustin Fuoco said in the podcast, “This was following our Vacation Bible School program, and instead of doing our regular worship, we had the children up on stage doing some performances and songs and dance and stuff.”
As the performance was unfolding, Richard Pryor, a deacon at the church, was arriving late that day in his F-150 pickup truck.
Jay Trombley, a member of the church security team, described what happened next: Browning “had some tactical gear on and some camouflage, mostly all camouflage. And he proceeded to put on more tactical gear, some sound protection over his ears, and then grabbed a large rifle.”
In fact, police say 31-year-old Browning, whose mother attended the church and who had attended himself several times, was armed with an AR-15-style rifle, a semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine, more than a dozen loaded magazines, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Pryor realized something wasn’t right and asked the man if he needed something.
According to Trombley, “The man looked at him and smirked, and walked away and started walking down the sidewalk, towards the main lobby entrance.”
That’s when Pryor realized what Browning’s intentions were. With no time to waste, he jumped back into his truck and barreled toward the would-be assassin. After being hit by the truck, Browning somehow managed to get off a barrage of shots and disable the truck. He fired into the windshield, but Pryor, thank God, wasn’t struck.
Meanwhile, people inside the church heard the gunshots and immediately began to implement the church’s security plan.
According to Fuoco, “Everybody began scattering at that time, and instantly, without hearing that somebody had a gun, seeing everybody scatter, hearing those noises, I instantly knew what it was.”
Initially, Fuoco ran to the church nursery to get his wife and newborn baby, but found it empty. Terrified, he then headed out to a field where congregants were running.
“There was a field where everybody was scattering,” he added. “Some people were running in the woods. Some people were hiding behind trees, and everybody that I encountered, everybody I kept running past. I asked if they saw what happened to the people in the baby room. Nobody did.”
According to Trombley, “Able-bodied men were grabbing the feeble and the elderly that couldn’t walk well or quickly and were carrying them.” [Pause so I can wipe away a tear at this act of heroism.]
As this scene unfolded, 63-year-old Ronald Amann, who was sitting in church with his wife and grandchild when the shooting began, headed to the church lobby with Trombley. Both men are part of the church’s security team and carry firearms.
Once in the lobby, they observed Browning shooting at another security team member who had taken cover behind an air-conditioning unit.
“The gunman fired multiple, multiple, multiple rounds in that man’s direction and did damage to a lot of the AC units…a lot of bullet holes strafed down the side of the front of our building,” Trombley recalled. “I did not know he was shooting at my team member, my good friend, who was covered by God’s hand behind that AC unit that is damaged from rifle rounds.”
Browning then turned his attention to the men in the lobby, and a firefight ensued. Amann was shot in the leg.
“It didn’t hurt immediately, so I attempted to get up, and I knew I had no leg strength to get up, so I said, ‘Something’s wrong here,'” he recalled. “And I looked at it, and the bone wasn’t straight anymore, and there was blood pouring out of it. So I said, ‘Well, I’m shot.'”
Trombley said, “I do not know how many I fired, I’m thinking, in the six to nine range. I know, I fired one round. I had a malfunction with my weapon. I cleared it. I fired more rounds. I didn’t count.” Police have yet to determine whether Trombley’s bullet took Browning out or if another team member shot him.
Fuoco found his family unharmed. Amann is recovering from surgery on his injured leg. A steel rod was inserted to repair the damage.
It’s terrifying to think what might have happened had not the good guys, armed with guns and an F-150, taken immediate action. All the church’s children were at the front of the church when the shooting began, easy targets.
Despite going through this traumatic event, church members drew strength from their faith in God.
“If, you know, the worst case scenario happened if the shooter were able to accomplish what he tried to accomplish, we don’t even want to think about that,” Fuoco said. “But being saved, we know what’s on the other side.”
“We, as a safety team, and as the deacons, and as every person that God put in exactly the right spot, we were put there to stop this evil man,” Trombley said.
“It’s just such an honor to be able to defend them,” he added. “That God put His trust in me—that God put His trust in me—to take care of them people. That’s the first time that thought’s come into my head. That’s amazing.”
In a statement, the CrossPointe described the kind actions of neighbors and other churches in the aftermath of the shooting.
First, it was about 90 degrees that day and a neighbor came out and immediately offered us cold water as we waited on the east lawn of our building. They even allowed some members to use their bathroom because we were not allowed back into the church for several hours as police investigated. Then buses took us to Hype Community Center so that we can cool off and just regroup. Little Caesars sent pizzas to feed us. Grief counselors were present and left a ton of information for ongoing care. Merriman Road Baptist Church sent cars to help take members home as our cars were all left at the church since the whole property was now a crime scene.
Church leadership decided to hold their regular Sunday worship service in their building following the shooting:
Here we are, one week away from the day that none of us will ever forget- the day God saved us from an attempted mass shooting during our worship service. Glory be to God!!… We made the decision to worship God in the same place where the incident occurred the following Sunday—today. We thank the well over a hundred brothers and sisters in Christ who showed up to worship at our side. HOPE even came with therapy dogs to help lower the anxiety of our little ones. The motto of the moment is “Walk forward, slowly.” We are still figuring out how it all will look, but we do know that we are changed which means that likely some other things will change as well. And all change for God is good.
Praise God for sparing this congregation from an unthinkable tragedy!
I know many of our regular readers attend church or synagogue regularly. I’d love to hear about your church’s security plans in the comments section. If you don’t have a security plan, there’s no time to waste. Get one in place and be ready to protect your fellow worshippers from a murderous evildoer.
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