Shocking footage shows church's reaction to shooter opening fire as security's quick-thinking saved lives
A video has been released showing the moment a shooter opened fire at a church congregation in Michigan.
According to police, a man - who has been identified as Brian Anthony Browning, a Romulus native - walked up to a church on Sunday (June 22) and opened fire outside of it.
The 31-year-old was armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and over a dozen magazines of ammunition, a semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine, and hundreds of ammunition rounds, Wayne Police Department said.
Authorities were notified to the CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Detroit, at 11:06am where they were told a white man wearing camouflage gear and a tactical vest was driving a silver SUV ‘erratically’ in the parking lot.
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Then, just a few minutes later, 911 calls allege that he had fired a weapon before a person driving a pickup truck hit him with the vehicle.
As it turns out, the man was the same person who had attended the church services with his own mother two to three times that year, according to police.
"The suspect’s mother is a member of the church, where he has attended church services two or three times over the last year," the police statement said.
They believe that as Browning had never been in trouble with law enforcement prior to the shooting, ‘he may have been suffering a mental health crisis’.
Now that footage has been released from inside of the congregation, viewers were able to see just what happened before the quick-thinking actions of a security guard who apprehended the suspect and saved lives in the process.
The video shows popping sounds, and people inside of the church ducking and attempting to flee as it became apparent that a shooter was outside of the doors.
However, according to a pastor, they initially didn’t think it was a shooting.
Senior Pastor Bobby Kelly Jr. said he thought someone outside was using a jackhammer, telling NBC News: "We weren’t thinking that those were shots until one of our security came in and told us to get out, that’s when [we] began exiting the building."
But when it became known that the suspect was launching an attack, Kelly said a member of the church ran him down in his car, stopping the gunman from reaching the doors.
After that the church's security team fired several rounds at the man, when ‘he was only a few feet from the front of the church’.
The Wayne Police Department confirmed that this is when the gunman was fatally shot by a member of the security team.
While a member of that team was shot twice in the leg during the ordeal, the injuries were ‘non-life-threatening’, as per the department.
The person was taken to hospital where they were able to undergo a successful surgery.
Warning: This video contains scenes which some viewers may find distressing.
FBI deputy director Dan Bongino said on Twitter that bureau 'leadership and support teams' were at the scene and helping with the investigation.
Pastor Kelly admitted to having seen the gunman a couple of times before, when Browning's mother was baptized.
He shared that Browning ‘had some concerns but it wasn't anything violent’ and ‘it was really about scripture and when we finished speaking, we were actually in agreement’.
"I saw him one more time after that in our church, and he was in a good mood," Pastor Kelly said. "He actually thought the message was very positive. That was back in February."
Having spoken to Browning’s mom, the pastor shared that she was ‘pretty distraught’, but that the congregation doesn’t ‘hold anything against her’.
After being shot, officers gave lifesaving treatment to the suspect, but Wayne Fire Rescue pronounced him dead at the scene a short time later.
At Browning's residence, police said they found rifles, semi-automatic handguns and a large amount of ammunition after the shooting.
"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," Police Chief Ryan Strong said during a news conference.
UNILAD has contacted the Wayne Police Department for further comment.
If you have been affected by the contents of this article, please find more information and support via Survivors Empowered on their website.
Britt Jones