Church members hold armed man at gunpoint until law arrives

The Laurens County Sheriff’s Office is looking into an incident at a local church where a man was found with a loaded gun on the property during Sunday morning’s service.

According to LCSO Cpt. Robbie Toney, an 18-year-old man is in custody and will be charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and possession of a pistol by an underage person. More charges are pending, Toney added. 

Interim Pastor Kevin Tanner announced in a Facebook post that there had been a threat at Brewton Baptist Church on Sunday, Nov. 9, but that all members, guests and staff were safe.

“Law enforcement responded quickly and professionally, and the situation has been resolved without harm,” he wrote. “We are deeply grateful for the swift actions of local authorities and for the prayers and
support from our community. Please continue to keep our church family, local law enforcement and community in your prayers as we move forward together in faith and gratitude.” 

Sheriff’s Capt. Sid Harrison trains church security teams, as well as the security teams for Laurens County Schools. He talked with a church official involved in the threat at Brewton Baptist and was told a church member alerted them about a suspicious man who was on the back part of the church’s property. Two men from the church approached the man to see what was going on and discovered he had a loaded handgun on him. 

“They had to draw down on him and call 911 to get some help there,” Harrison said. “They did exactly what they needed to do to secure the situation. … Praise God that nobody got hurt.” 

Law enforcement arrived about five minutes later, Harrison said. Church security teams go to the shooting range where Harrison trains them on how to secure and protect their congregation.

“They all do well,” he said. “Those who come are very serious about this. We have a host of churches in the area who plan for this. I got a call last night about a church setting up a time soon to get (their team) more organized.” 

To reach out to Harrison about church security teams, call the sheriff’s office at (478) 272-1522, ask for Jackie Foster and she will relay it to Harrison.

“I’ll come out and do a threat assessment and see what the facility looks like,” Harrison said. “We’ll talk very informally about what their goals are. Simple is best. We don’t need SWAT at church. We just need decent common-sense folks to be alert and tell somebody when they see something.” That’s what happened at Brewton. Somebody saw something that wasn’t exactly right and they made a comment and went to check on it.”