A man armed with a shotgun was prevented entry into a predominantly Black Pennsylvania church, possibly thwarting a racially motivated mass shooting.
The 38-year-old white male, Jeffrey Harris, had failed to gain permission to enter the Greater Dominion Church in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, Aug. 27. In response, Harris raised his loaded 12-gauge shotgun at two women standing at an intersection on the corner of Melrose Avenue and Fourth Street near the location of the church.
Police officers received a criminal complaint at 9 a.m. that morning about the incident between the two women and Harris and went to investigate.
The officers, in an interview with church Bishop Kenneth Crumb, were told that Harris was denied entry to the church because the service was too packed. Crumb told the officers that had he just come an hour later, he would’ve been allowed entry and was grateful this did not happen.
“When you just think about how close we came to having the same kind of horrific situation that we had at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, it’s like the Grace of God. Thank God for his grace, for his covering over us, because this could have been a total different way,” Crumb told WTAE-TV.
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