Shots fired at The Epicenter Church, Burnet, TX

[troglodyte]

Details are still sketchy.

Volunteer safety team fired shots at men with rifle. Fled in white minivan.

I don’t have “X”/Twitter but a friend just read a statement from the church stating the suspects were seen trying to wedge a rock under a door to keep it from opening. I presume they were trying to block the exit doors.

https://www.kwtx.com/2024/10/06/local- ... et-county/


Edit: previous link converted to needing app. Hopefully new link will remain valid.

[RoyGBiv]

Some serious heads up by the security guy. Bravo.

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/armed-s ... unty-texas

[puma guy]

Some serious heads up by the security guy. Bravo.

https://www.fox7austin.com/news/armed-s ... unty-texas

Maybe the Church Security should train the USSS,

[Paladin]

A church security team member confronted two men who were wearing masks in the parking lot of the church. One of the men showed a rifle which caused the security member to fire three rounds of his gun, according to BCSO. Police added that the two suspects fled in a white van heading north on US 281.

Looks like an organized attack. Outstanding job by the church security!

What is also interesting about this is that the FBI will not consider this an active shooter attack, as security succeeded and no one died.

There has to be a better measure than the FBI statistics of failure.

[Mike S]

Yeah, not a coordinated attack so much as a "Made Up" event...

Church volunteer arrested for making a false report. Seems to have been lots of angst & gnashing of teeth, wasted resources, & an embarrassment. There are LOTS of Church Safety programs out there that are doing wonderful work. This guy isn't a representation of those good works.

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local ... e39928af2c

It will be interesting when more details are published with hard facts.

This is a "Teachable Moment", & highlights the importance of screening those who are allowed into the Safety Ministry.

[Paladin]

Thanks for the update Mike. Would definitely like to learn more.

[rtschl]

This is why it's important to vet your team members. Though we cannot weed out every possible idiot, doing some basic things will help prevent this. Small churches may only have a small number of people willing to serve in this role, which makes it harder. But that makes the need greater to vet them as best as possible. Doing things like:

• Do not use new members - get to know them and make sure they are plugged into the church first.

• Try to determine their temperament - would they de-escalate first if possible?

• Do they brag a lot about their skills or background? That's a red flag.

• Do not take the guy dying to be on your team. You don't want a wanna be cop or batman.

• You want sheepdogs, but be wary of Alphas (or pretend Alphas) that think they know everything. They're un-trainable.

[carlson1]

This is off a Facebook LEO page.

[Jose_in_Dallas]

Wow! Just wow! I can't imagine someone trying to get away with something like this.

[Ruark]

So what exactly happened and didn't happen? He fired the shots, but there were no "two guys with a rifle"? He didn't fire any shots at all?

[rtschl]

So what exactly happened and didn't happen? He fired the shots, but there were no "two guys with a rifle"? He didn't fire any shots at all?

According to below article he did shoot his weapon, but made up the story:

“Upon the arrival of law enforcement, it became clear that shots had been fired, and that all of them came from a member of the Church’s volunteer safety team,” the BCSO statement read. “The safety team member stated that he confronted 2 suspicious males outside the church, one of whom presented a rifle.

“In the course of this investigation, the safety team member who had fired the shots admitted that he had fabricated significant details of this incident and had lied to law enforcement and others about this incident,”

https://www.burnetbulletin.com/news/con ... oting-hoax

[RoyGBiv]

The remaining question is...
Did he have a negligent discharge and this was a bad cover story ... or... Did he fire his weapon with premeditation, intending to pass it off as a hero story?