By Erika Hernandez
06 May 2024, 18:06 PM EDT
Authorities reported that They arrested an armed man who pointed a firearm at a Pennsylvania pastor in the middle of a sermon that he gave in his Church during the weekend. The ordeal was caught on camera.
Bernard Polite, 26, was captured after trying to shoot Pastor Glenn Germany at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church in North Braddock on Sunday afternoon, police said.
A terrifying live broadcast of the events showed the pastor ducking for cover as the criminal brandished the weapon.
The church’s deacon, Clarence McCallister, was filmed running up and tackling the suspect from behind. He and the pastor disarmed the man and restrained him until the police arrived.
It was later revealed that the gun jammed, saving his life.
“God, by a miracle, stopped the shooting,” he said in a second video he posted on Facebook.
Germany told Fox News Digital on Monday that he was grateful to be alive and in “excellent” spirits.
“[Él era] simply a young man who suffered from mental illness; “He saw an open door and decided to go in,” the pastor said.
“In fact, he apologized to me. I told him, ‘I forgive you and I want you to know that I love you,’” the pastor revealed in a separate interview on NBC’s “Today.”
He said that he had been told that Police found the body of another man in a home on Stokes Avenue, and that the suspect, who appears to be mentally ill, told him he was “possessed by spirits.”
It was not immediately clear when the victim, identified as Derek Polite, was shot and killed.
Court records show Polite faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. He was being held without bail at the Allegheny County Jail. and is due back in court on May 13.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Polite allegedly told police “God told me to do it,” that he intended to kill the pastor and that he wanted to go to jail so he could “clear his head.” .
The Allegheny County Police Department separately said it also launched a homicide investigation into the Stokes Avenue death.
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