A Louisiana church avoided possible tragedy Saturday when several churchgoers confronted an armed teen who entered the church during a First Holy Communion service for 60 children.
The 16-year-old has been charged with a count of terrorizing and two counts of possession of a firearm by a juvenile, according to the Abbeville Police Department, after he entered the back door of St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, about 20 miles south of Lafayette.
Police did not release other details about the teen, including his possible motive or how he got the gun.
What is clear is that people confronted the teen when he entered the church, which does not allow firearms inside, and stopped him before he had a chance to do physical harm, John Listi, who leads the church’s youth ministry, told The Washington Post on Monday.
“There were several folks here in the community who in the face of the terrifying situation stood their ground and wanted to make sure the community was safe and didn’t think of themselves in the least and put themselves in harm’s way,” Listi said.
He said the church, which has between 2,200 and 2,500 families, is shaken up and anxious.
“Our community will emerge from this stronger than ever,” he said. “We’re leaning into our faith right now.”
The live stream of Saturday’s service is no longer accessible on the church’s social media pages. But a recording from local TV station KADN shows the chaos unfolding.
The video shows Listi kneeling before he approaches the altar and tells the pastor, who has his hands raised in prayer, what has happened.
“I’d like everybody to be seated for just a moment,” the priest says. As he does, people are seen milling about, and the crowd’s din gets louder.
Twenty seconds later, he implores the attendees: “I would like everyone to join me in prayer.”
“Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee,” he says, as the sounds of children screaming echo in the sanctuary. About 40 seconds later, a police officer enters the frame at the front of the church.
About two minutes later, though it is unclear why, the scene grows chaotic, with screaming and people looking frantically about. The pastor and a deacon kneel behind the altar. Behind them stands an officer with his gun out of its holster. About 30 seconds later, altar servers run behind the kneeling men.
About a minute and a half later, someone’s voice comes over the microphone: “Listen, guys, just get a hold of your child. Go slowly. We did apprehend a young man. He is in custody. He is in the police custody. Calm down and just get next to your child and go slowly.”
The church posted online that it would have uniformed officers at upcoming Masses. “We invite First Communicants to receive First Holy Communion at whichever Mass they choose to attend this weekend,” church leaders wrote. “We are grateful for all the prayers for our St. Mary Magdalen community.”
Places of worship haven’t been immune to the scourge of mass killings that have altered American life.
In 2015, nine Black parishioners were shot and killed at a church Bible study in South Carolina by a self-described white supremacist. In 2017, a gunman used an AR-15 to kill 25 people and an unborn child at a church his mother-in-law attended in Sutherland Springs, Tex. In 2018, a man trained on killing as many Jewish people as he could fatally shot 11 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Abbeville Mayor Roslyn White posted Saturday on Facebook that she was grateful for the “brave, diligent individuals who kept our community safe under threat and the officers who remained focused under unimaginably stressful circumstances.”