Evil interrupted

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Gunfire at God’s house.

Now just a quick word of warning, this story deals with scary situations that may be too intense for younger ears. Parents with young children may want to fast-forward about 10 minutes and come back later. We’ll give you a moment to reach for the podcast controls before continuing

NICK EICHER, HOST: Just two Sundays ago, police say a gunman dressed in tactical gear opened fire outside a Michigan church during that congregation’s vacation Bible school program. WORLD Reporter Travis Kircher spoke with several members of the congregation about what happened next and how it could have been a lot worse.

TRAVIS KIRCHER: June 22nd wasn’t a typical Sunday morning service at Crosspointe Community Church in Wayne, Michigan. As sound technician Dustin Fuoco explains, it was supposed to be about the children.

FUOCO: This was following our Vacation Bible School program, and instead of doing our regular worship, we had the children up on stage doing some performances and songs and dance and stuff.

Church member Ronald Amann, age 63, was enjoying the program with his grandchildren.

AMANN: And I was sitting midway, holding my grandson, my wife and other grandson was next to me.

Meanwhile, one of the church deacons decided to switch up his routine and make breakfast before heading to church—causing him to be late for the service. As he arrived in his F-150 pickup truck, he noticed someone driving donuts in the church parking lot. The driver then got out of his vehicle, and the deacon knew something was horribly wrong.

Jay Trombley serves on the church security detail.

TROMBLEY: He had some tactical gear on and some camouflage, mostly all camouflage. And he proceeded to put on more tactical gear, some sound protection over his ears, and then grabbed a large rifle.

Trombley said the deacon called out to the man.

TROMBLEY: You know, “Hey buddy! What's going on? You need something?” And the man looked at him and smirked, and walked away and started walking down the sidewalk, towards the main lobby entrance.

Trombley said the deacon had mere moments to act before the gunman would be inside the church. So he got back in his truck, and barrelled toward the man. Trombley said the gunman didn’t hear him, because he was still wearing ear protection.

TROMBLEY: And the deacon hit him with his F-150 and put the man down.

At that point, Trombley says the gunman opened fire.

TROMBLEY: The man was on the ground, but he shot the deacon’s pickup, and incapacitated the truck immediately.

Fuoco says the sound of the commotion reached the inside of the sanctuary. Audio here from the church’s livestream.

FUOCO: We heard what ended up being, I'd say, about 10 gunshots, and it sounded just like a jackhammer, I'm up in the sound booth area in the balcony, and I look over to our video guy, and we didn't know what it was.

That’s when a woman who had seen what happened ran into the sanctuary to warn the congregation.

FUOCO: Everybody began scattering at that time, and instantly, without hearing that somebody had a gun, seeing everybody scatter, hearing those noises, I instantly knew what it was.

Both Trombley and Amann are members of the church security team and carry firearms. Amann said he handed his grandson off and started heading toward the sound of gunfire.

Meanwhile, calls flooded into the 911 dispatch center, and from all over town, police began heading to the church.

DISPATCH: All west units, if you can make Wayne City, 36125 Glenwood.

Audio here courtesy of Broadcastify.

[cont]: They have an active-shooter situation in the parking lot. Male is continuously shooting.

Fuoco, rushed for the nursery, where he’d left his wife and newborn baby. But when he arrived, there was no one there.

FUOCO: Very much panic moment for me right there. Did not know where they were, did not know where the shots were coming from

Meanwhile, Amann had joined Trombley in the lobby, and saw the gunman outside in full combat uniform with an automatic weapon. Trombley said the shooter was firing on another security team member, who took shelter behind some air conditioning units.

TROMBLEY: The gunman fired multiple, multiple, multiple rounds in that man's direction and did damage to a lot of the AC units...a lot of bullet holes strafed down the side the front of our building...I did not know he was shooting at my team member, my my good friend who was covered by God's hand behind that AC unit that is damaged from rifle rounds.

But Trombley said the gunman quickly turned his attention to the church lobby, and opened fire on both his and Amann’s position. Amann remembers the windows in front of him shattering, before a bullet ripped through his leg, knocking him to the ground.

AMANN: It didn't hurt immediately, so I attempted to get up, and I knew I had no leg strength to get up, so I said, “Something's wrong here.” And I looked at it, and the bone wasn't straight anymore, and there was blood pouring out of it. So I said, “Well, I'm shot.”

Trombley said he quickly checked on Amann, then made his way to a shattered window and opened fire on the gunman.

TROMBLEY: I do not know how many I fired, I'm thinking, in the six to nine range. I know, I fired one round. I had a malfunction with my weapon. I cleared it. I fired more rounds. I didn't count.

While all of this was going on, Fuoco said members of the congregation were running away from the scene as fast as they could.

FUOCO: There was a field where everybody was scattering. Some people were running in the woods. Some people were hiding behind trees, and everybody that I encountered, everybody I kept running past. I asked if they saw what happened to the people in the baby room. Nobody did.

Trombley said special attention was given to those who struggled to get away.

TROMBLEY: Able-bodied men were grabbing the feeble and the elderly that couldn't walk well or quickly and were carrying them.

But the threat, was soon over. The gunman died in his exchange of gunfire with Trombley and another security team member. Trombley said he and two others approached the suspect. They seized his rifle as well as a handgun they found on his person.

At around this point, Trombley caught sight of the deacon, the one who hit the gunman with his truck.

TROMBLEY: He was out in the yard praising God for his safety, because his pickup was full of bullet holes...there was a circle around his windshield of where he'd been looking out of bullet holes. God, just put his hand down and protected him from being hit from any of that.

Church staff quickly rushed to Amann’s aid.

AMANN: One of our people came and they found a tourniquet, or a band that they used as a tourniquet, and then started packing the wound...they're trying to stop the bleeding by just packing rags and stuff into it.

RESCUE CREW: Dispatch from Engine Five, Engine Five is on here responding with Rescue Five.

Trombley estimates it took police just over three minutes to arrive after the first 9-1-1 call.

RESCUE CREW: Do we have multiple patients or a single patient? Sir we cannot confirm exactly how many are wounded. We do have one CPR in progress for sure and then had another party with a possible shooting to the leg.

The church security team members handed over their firearms, and were interviewed separately.

Meanwhile Fuoco, was still in a nearby field, about to celebrate a reunion.

FUOCO: At that 15 minute point of being out there, me and somebody from our church began praying together...not even kidding, the minute—the second—she said, “Amen,” heard somebody call out from the distance, “Is that your wife and son?”

It was them. Resting near a creek. Alive and unharmed.

FUOCO: I keep saying that I hugged my wife tighter than I've ever hugged her,

In the days that followed, all three men gave glory to God for the fact no one from their congregation died that day. Jay Trombley says he believes God specifically orchestrated the deacon’s change in routine.

TROMBLEY: If the deacon had not put that man down—if he made it in that sanctuary, in that lobby—I wouldn't be having this conversation with you, sir. My firepower that I carried would not have sustained me against him.

At the same time, he says he’s having to cope with the heavy burden of shooting a man.

TROMBLEY: I hate the fact that I took a life. But we as a safety team, and as the deacon and as every person that God put in exactly the right spot, we were put there to stop this evil man.

And at times, he’s overcome with emotion when he thinks about how he had the opportunity to give back to the congregation he calls his family.

TROMBLEY: It's just such an honor to be able to defend them. That God put His trust in me—that God put His trust in me—to take care of them people. That's the first time that thought's come into my head. That's amazing.

For his part, Ronald Amann is still recovering at home from his bullet wound.

AMANN: It hit the tibia and shattered the bone, so they got me to a trauma center. Later that evening, they did surgery on me, So I have a steel rod in there now and right now, it's all in a cast and wrapped and all that, so I don't even know what it looks like.

And Dustin Fuoco? He’s already been back to the church. He says he’s there as often as he can be, spending time with fellow believers and helping out where he can. He calls it therapeutic. He says anyone who has put his or her faith and trust in Jesus Christ, has nothing to fear.

FUOCO: If, you know, the worst case scenario happened if the shooter were able to accomplish what he tried to accomplish, we don't even want to think about that. But being saved, we know what's on the other side.

Police have since identified the 31-year-old shooter. At this time investigators have not determined a motive, but Wayne Police Chief Ryan Strong said police do believe he intended to commit a mass shooting. Strong also had high praise for the staff of Crosspointe Community Church:

STRONG: I’m telling you right now, their actions prevented dozens of people from being murdered today.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher.

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