Church staff thwarts mass shooting, kills gunman

Several church members thwarted what would have likely been a mass shooting during a church service at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne on Sunday morning. The gunman was shot dead by church staff members, one of whom was wounded in the gunfire, police said.

The gunman arrived as services were underway around 11 a.m., wearing a tactical vest and armed with a long gun and a handgun, and began firing his weapon outside the church, Wayne Police Chief Ryan Strong said at a press conference Sunday evening.

Several staff members from the church approached the gunman and one parishioner struck the gunman with his vehicle as the gunman shot at the vehicle repeatedly, Strong said. At least two staff members shot the gunman, causing the fatal wounds. One staff member was shot in the leg by the gunman, he said.

The gunman was identified as a 31-year-old from Romulus whose motivations are unknown. His name was not released.

” … We are grateful for the heroic actions of the church’s staff members who undoubtedly saved many lives and prevented a large scale mass shooting,” Strong said.

Strong said it appears the gunman was suffering from a mental health crisis and, until that point, had had limited interactions with law enforcement. He said police aren’t aware at this point of any connection the gunman had to the church.

The staff member who was shot is awaiting surgery but his injuries aren’t life-threatening, Strong said.

Brendan Henzel, 21, said he was attending services at the church when the shooting occurred.

“I was confused what was going on,” Henzel told the Detroit Free Press as he stood near the church in the hours after the shooting took place. “I heard ‘Boom, boom, pow’ and next thing I knew I was running.”

A livestream of the church service, which appears to have been taken down from the church’s website but was captured by news outlets, shows the parishioners, many of them children, sitting in the pews when the shooting takes place. There’s shouting, and then attendees duck under their chairs or run as shots can be heard in the background. A woman at one point yells, “Everybody to the back. Please, everybody come to the back.”

The church was cordoned off with police tape Sunday afternoon, as police from various agencies investigated.

Strong said Wayne Police intends to share the name of the suspect at a later time.