Police said that a man in Pennsylvania tried to murder a pastor at a church during service in North Braddock on Sunday.
26-year-old Bernard Junior Polite entered the Jesus Dwelling Place Church a little after 1 p.m. EST and “attempted to shoot the pastor as he was giving a sermon,” authorities said.
“Polite pointed a firearm at the pastor, attempted to shoot, but the firearm failed to discharge,” the statement said.
“A congregation member took immediate action by grabbing onto Polite. The members and the pastor were able to subdue and disarm Polite. Polite was held until Troopers arrived.”
“I’m thankful to God that I’m still here, because he definitely pulled the trigger,” Pastor Glenn Germany, the target of the attempted shooting, said.
“I started to begin to preach and all of a sudden, from my left-hand side, I saw him move from the back to the front of the church, and he set up in the front corner of the church and smiled at me,” Germany said.
“All of a sudden, I just saw a gun pointing right at me. And at that point, all I could try to do is run for cover.”
The pastor praised the members of his congregation
who ran in and tackled the suspect.
