Prominent faith leaders across the country are holding a Seattle church community in prayer after one of its members was fatally shot during a young adult service last week.
Seattle police are searching for a suspect who reportedly killed 28-year-old Lebron Givaun as he arrived with his family to a BBQ and young adult service at Pursuit Church, which is located near the University of Washington.
According to surveillance video, a gunman can be seen exiting a white vehicle and opening fire before returning to the car, KING5, a Seattle news outlet, reports. Estimates indicate that about 30 rounds of bullets were shot into the crowd gathering in the parking lot for the event.
The vehicle was later found abandoned and engulfed in flames at another church’s parking lot.
“An unthinkable act of violence shattered the sanctity of our church,” Russell Johnson, the pastor of Pursuit Church, told the church during service on Sunday. “At approximately 7:10 pm as students were arriving for service, a car rolled down the street and came to a stop right in front of the church. And what happened next is what nightmares are made of.”
Johnson recounted that a man wearing a black ski mask exited the vehicle and began to open fire into the crowd “indiscriminately.” Another masked assailant in the front passenger seat opened fire as well.
“In total, over 30 rounds were fired from illegally modified handguns converted to fully automatic,” he added. “It’s unthinkable that this would happen at a church in America in the year 2025.”
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Johnson told members that Lebron was the only person killed. He noted that the young man had just gotten married a week earlier. And just two months before his death, Lebron made Jesus the Lord of his life.
LeBron was murdered last night while walking into my friends church in Seattle.
This was one of his last videos sharing the salvation he found in Jesus.
Share this and pray for his family, his church for JUSTICE.pic.twitter.com/kAEP8atZLM
— Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) August 1, 2025
“His last post on Instagram before his life was tragically cut short, he (shared) an invite to that young adult service,” Johnson shared.
A GoFundMe page set up in Lebron’s honor reads that he was a “devoted husband and loving father” whose “loss has left an unimaginable void in the lives of his wife and children.”
“Even criminals have a code of honor. You don’t shoot a man in broad daylight while he is at a house of worship, while he is with his wife and kid. With the crowd of people who had gathered and the amount of bullets that were fired. It is a miracle that this shooting did not result in a mass casualty event. And I hope to God that I never have to read a statement like this again,” said Johnson in the pulpit Sunday morning.
“76% of homicides in Seattle go unsolved. We are praying today that justice will come quickly,” he said.
Hundreds of believers are standing behind Pursuit Seattle, offering condolences, and, most importantly, prayer.
“Praying for you and your congregation, Pastor Russell! And especially praying for the family of the young man who was killed. How tragic,” wrote Pastor Greg Laurie.”
Faith leaders like Cindy Jacobs, Lisa Bevere, Jentezen Franklin, Kim Walker Smith, and Rodney Howard Browne responded to an earlier video by Johnson and said they were praying for Lebron’s family, Russell Johnson’s church, and the surrounding community.
“The thugs who committed this crime were trying to send a message: no church is safe, no house of worship is safe. And the enemy would love for us to back down and hide, but that is simply not who we are,” Johnson said Sunday.
This is not the first time the Seattle-based church has been the focus of a major attack.
As CBN News reported, Pastor Johnson, evangelist Ross Johnston, and Her Voice MVMT founder Jenny Donnelly, hosted a MayDay USA rally in May to bring a major prayer movement and evangelism outreach to Seattle with the goal of seeing the “sacredness of gender and family as defined by God” restored.
However, on the day of the event, numerous rioters showed up to oppose the effort complaining about “fascist family values.”
“[The rally] is aimed to counter the well-funded anti-trans, anti-queer event that is led by far-right Christian activists. The Mayday USA rally in Seattle is provocatively being held in the heart of the Queer community,” a spokesperson for Radical Women Seattle claimed before the rally.
disgusting https://t.co/zB3mYeDI8e
— Russell Johnson (@russellbjohnson) May 28, 2025
these violent assaults are what the @MayorofSeattle supports https://t.co/eYAvccSV29
— Russell Johnson (@russellbjohnson) May 28, 2025
As CBN News reported, authorities worked to get the two groups apart, but “multiple people inside one group threw items at the opposing group around 1:30 PM Saturday.” Police arrested 22 individuals for charges of assault and obstruction.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell later issued a statement suggesting the group of Christians who gathered was to blame for the violence and characterized the event as a “far-right rally.”
“In the face of an extreme right-wing national effort to attack our trans and LGBTQ+ communities, Seattle will continue to stand unwavering in our embrace of diversity, love for our neighbors, and commitment to justice and fairness,” he said in a statement.
Johnston told CBN News Digital that Harrell was “choosing a side” by claiming the Christians who gathered in the park legally were promoting ideas that were “inherently opposed” to city officials’ views. “He was choosing the protesters’ side, and we just knew we had to stand against that,” he said.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino posted on X after the rally the agency was investigating the incident, adding, “Freedom of religion isn’t a suggestion.”
Paula White-Cain, senior adviser for the White House Faith Office, later said, “We urge the City of Seattle to uphold these rights at all faith-based events, safeguarding the ability of people of faith to gather and express their beliefs without fear of harassment or violence.”
Meanwhile, hundreds gathered outside the church Sunday night for a candlelight vigil honoring Lebron’s life.
Seattle police told KOMO News they believe the incident was a targeted attack.
“Attacks from the enemy and attempts at intimidating the people of God will not prosper in the Pacific Northwest,” said Johnson. “The Kingdom will advance. God will continue to do his best work in this region. And we are as committed today as we’ve ever been to seeking and saving the lost.”
