Pastor With Concealed Carry Permit Held Suspected Church Burglar at Gunpoint.
Posted by jhingarat21 on 2nd Sep 2015
Pastor Kenneth Morgan was in his office at the Church of the Living God in Oklahoma City prepping for a midweek service when he heard a noise in the dining area.
But when Morgan got up to investigate Wednesday afternoon, he took along something other than the Good Book.
A concealed carry license holder, Morgan was packing — and said he encountered a burglar inside the church, KWTV-TV reported.
Apparently seeing the armed man of the cloth scared the crook, who took off outside. But he didn’t get very far — at least not at first.
“The pastor held the burglar at gunpoint,” Lieutenant Michelle Holland of the Oklahoma City police said. “He laid down in the grass, at some point then decided to run off as we were arriving,”
That’s when Morgan said he did something he’s never done at his church in the decade he’s been a licensed firearm
carrier: He pulled the trigger.
It was just one warning shot, Morgan told KOCO-TV off camera.
Morgan told KWTV the unidentified man, who police said didn’t take anything from the church, was in search of food and something to drink.
Soon nearby resident Clarence Thomas came home and saw “helicopters everywhere” and then a breaking news bulletin scroll across his TV screen about the reported burglary, KWTV said. So he decided to check outside just to be safe — and noticed an odd figure in his flowerbed.
“They didn’t even know where he was. I went out back and I saw him but he didn’t see me,” Thomas told KOCO. “He was hidden. He was face down close to the ground. I just backed up went into the house, called 911 and alerted them exactly where he was.”
“Within two minutes, it was 20 police cars here,” Thomas told KWTV, “and they took care of him.” Police arrested the man, the Oklahoman reported, and there were no injuries.
The church posted a statement on its Facebook page on Wednesday afternoon: “All is well; Pastor Kenny is fine. Praise God. Prayer, Bible study, and full story at 7:00.”