A Cherokee County pastor from the Corinth Missionary Baptist Church in Bullard, Texas talked down a crazed gunman who entered the building threatening to kill members of the congregation following what he said were the demands of Allah.
According to Pastor John Johnson, Rasheed Abdul Aziz, 40, entered the church at around 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon and asked the deacon where he could find the pastor, reported the Tyler Morning Telegraph.
When Aziz entered the conference room, Johnson recalled that every hair on his neck stood up as the atmosphere of the room changed.
"It was almost like you could just like feel the presence of just negative energy," he said.
Aziz allegedly almost instantly became irate, claiming to be a "man of Islam" who had demons chasing him and was told to "slay the infidels" and kill any Christian or Jew who did not abide by the teachings of Islam.
"He said people are going to die today, that's what he said to me," Johnson told ABC's Texas affiliate KLTV-TV.
Facing this imminent threat, Johnson stood between Aziz and the door leading to the rest of the church, asking him to remain calm. As it turns out, Johnson also works full-time with troubled youth as a student services intervention specialist. He also used to be a former parole officer and has received training in crisis prevention, verbal de-escalation and working with mentally ill offenders.
Johnson then told Aziz to sit and offered to get him a drink and pray for him. The pastor said he needed to quickly look after the children and used that opportunity to tell lingering congregation members that Aziz had a gun, according to The Blaze.
"Immediately my mind went to the fact that I knew we had several children and young members that were playing and running in the fellowship hall. I mouthed to them, 'This man has a weapon, I need you guys to go,'" Johnson recalled.
Since another church member had already dialed 911, Johnson decided to leave as well.
"We can get another church. We can get more walls, but we cannot get new people," he reportedly told his wife.
Police soon arrived on the scene, arrested Aziz and charged him with felony possession of a firearm. He was later taken to the Smith County Jail where he is likely to face additional charges.
The story, however, doesn't end there. Sometime after his arrest, Aziz returned to the church and left a note which was found by a deacon Monday morning.
Seeing the note, Johnson was happy that the situation reached a peaceful resolution and thanked God that he was granted the mindset and clarity to defuse the situation.
In light of the incident, the church is taking extra security measures.
"Do not get caught thinking that this only happens in other places, in big places," Johnson concluded, warning other pastors.
