“Covered by God’s hand”

Last Sunday’s service at CrossPointe Community Church was supposed to cap off the church’s vacation Bible school program with singing, Scripture reading, and dance performances by the children.

But Brian Anthony Browning had other plans. The 31-year-old showed up outside the Wayne, Mich., church shortly after 11 a.m. Sunday, wearing a tactical vest and carrying a rifle and a handgun, according to police. He soon opened fire.

By noon, Browning was dead, one man was shot in the leg, and the congregation had scattered across a nearby field. Church members say the fact that no one in the congregation was killed is evidence of God’s hand of protection–and the quick thinking of the church’s security team.

An unexpected meeting

Dustin Fuoco attends the church with his wife and was running the church sound system during Sunday morning service.

“We had more than average children there for VBS,” Fuoco told WORLD. “Instead of doing our regular worship, we had the children up on stage doing some performances and songs and dance and stuff.”

Jay Trombley, 57, is on the church’s safety team. He was providing armed security on that Sunday, June 22. He said a church deacon who was pulling into the parking lot in his Ford F-150 pickup truck was the first person to encounter Browning.

Trombley said the man police later identified as Browning was in the church parking lot driving donuts. The driver then got out of his vehicle before donning camouflage tactical gear and ear protection, and grabbing a rifle.

“The deacon saw this and actually called out to the guy,” Trombley said. “You know, ‘Hey buddy! What's going on? You need something?’ And the man looked at him, smirked, walked away, and started walking down the sidewalk that runs through the front of our building.”

Trombley said the deacon recognized Browning as a threat, so he got back in his truck, drove through the front lawn, and started barreling toward the gunman.

“Because the man had on ear protection and sound protection, he didn’t hear the deacon come, and the deacon hit him with his F-150 and put the man down,” Trombley said.

At that point, Trombley said the man who police identified as Browning opened fire on the deacon, Trombley said.

“The man was on the ground, but he shot the deacon’s pickup … and incapacitated the truck immediately,” Trombley said.

Shots fired

Inside the church, Fuoco said he could hear the shots, but he didn’t understand what was happening.

“We heard what ended up being—I'd say—about 10 gunshots,” he said. “It sounded just like a jackhammer. And up at that point, 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. We thought maybe it was something with our audio.”

But then he said he heard more gunshots.

“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,” Fuoco said.

Fuoco said his first thought was for his wife and newborn who were in the nursery.

“Within just a couple of seconds, I was downstairs in the baby room where my wife and our newborn son were,” Fuoco said. “The baby room was completely empty, while everybody else was scattered.”

At that moment, Fuoco panicked.

Engaging the threat

Meanwhile, Trombley said a woman on the safety team looked out the front door to see the suspect firing on the deacon’s pickup truck. As she ran inside the church to sound the alarm, Trombley said he and other safety team members moved to engage the suspect.

“We had a safety team member who was on the west end of the building, heard the noise … and took cover behind some AC units,” Trombley said. “The gunman fired multiple, multiple, multiple rounds in that man's direction and did damage to a lot of the AC units … bullet holes straight down the side the front of our building.”

Trombley said he couldn’t tell what the suspect was shooting at.

“I did not know he was shooting at my team member—my good friend who was covered by God's hand, behind that AC unit.”

At that point, Trombley said the suspect turned his attention to the church building itself, where Trombley was with another member of the safety team.

“He fired multiple rounds,” Trombley said. “One round struck the other team member in the leg and shattered his tibia.”

Trombley said he quickly checked on his wounded teammate, then made his way to a shattered window. The suspect was still lying on the ground, but he was moving and had his rifle, according to Trombley. “I do not know how many I fired,” Trombley said. “I'm thinking, in the six to nine range. I know I fired at him. I fired one round and then I had a malfunction with my weapon and I cleared it. I fired more rounds. I didn't count.”

Fields and trees

Meanwhile, the congregation poured out the church doors and started running into a nearby field.

“Some people were running in the woods,” Fuoco said. “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.”

Able-bodied men were picking up and carrying the weak and elderly who couldn’t walk well or move fast enough to get away, Trombley said he later learned.

Fuoco calls it the most terrifying moment of his life, but not because he was worried about himself.

“I was terrified the entire 15 minutes, honestly believing that my wife and child were dead,” he said.

Suspect neutralized

Browning died in the confrontation with the church security team. When he stopped moving, Trombley approached. Trombley said he removed Browning’s rifle, as well as a handgun.

Moments later, he saw the deacon who was driving the F-150.

“He was out in the yard praising God for his safety,” Trombley said. “Because his pickup was full of bullet holes. There was a circle around his windshield where he'd been looking out of bullet holes. He was covered in glass, but God just put his hand down and protected him from being hit by any of that.”

Trombley estimates that it only took three minutes after shots were fired for police to show up and secure the areas. All of the church security team members surrendered their firearms to police and were interviewed separately, Trombley said. He hasn’t seen an official report, but Trombley said he heard Browning fire around 50-60 rounds during the incident.

Joyful reunion

Meanwhile in the nearby field, church members were reuniting and thanking God no one had been hurt.

“At that 15-minute point of being out there, me and somebody from our church began praying together,” Fuoco said. “And I’m not even kidding. The minute—the second—she said ‘Amen,’ I heard someone call out from that distance, ‘Is that your wife and son?’”

Fuoco said he looked where they were pointing and that’s when he saw his wife and newborn down by a nearby creek, unharmed.

“The moment I found them—I keep saying that I hugged my wife tighter than I’ve ever hugged her,” Fuoco said.

Aftermath

Trombley said the congregation had a private meeting at an undisclosed location Tuesday night to decompress and praise God away from the media. Fuoco characterized it as an emotional time when members of the congregation had a chance to thank those who protected them. Trombley said he broke down after a church member openly thanked God that they didn’t have to plan any funerals for any congregants.

“And when he said that—and even now as I say it—it's choking me up,” he said. “Because I know …I was close to making my wife a widow. He was close to making my wife a widow—and my kids without a father.”

His wife told him it was the first time she had ever seen him cry.

Fuoco admits the congregation is shaken, but it’s not going to stop him or other church members from returning for worship on Sunday, June 29. In fact, he said he’d already been back to the church building several times since the shooting. He said he found it therapeutic. He credits his hope in Christ for giving him the courage to go back.

“Even if the worst-case scenario happened,” Fuoco said, “if the shooter were able to accomplish what he tried to accomplish—and we don't even want to think about that—being saved, we know what's on the other side.”

Police believe Browning had attended CrossPointe Community Church a few times with his mother, according to a report by CNN. Both Fuoco and Trombley said they were unfamiliar with him. At a press conference later on Sunday that was recorded by local media, Wayne Police Chief Ryan Strong said that Browning’s motivations were unknown but that, based on some preliminary interviews conducted at the scene, he appeared to be suffering from a mental health crisis. An investigation was continuing into the incident, Strong said.

Trombley said he’d been running on adrenaline in the days after the incident, so he hadn’t had time to dwell on his role in what happened. As a truck driver, he said he’s worried the thoughts will catch up with him on the open road.

“I hate the fact that I took a life,” he said. “But we as a safety team, and the deacon, and every person that God put in exactly the right spot, we were there to stop this evil man. And I know it doesn’t make it better, but we took his life and we spared the lives of everyone else … it was self-defense. And I don’t know if that justifies it.”

God’s preparation and provision

Trombley credits a decision his church made a decade ago to put together a security team, which he joined, to defend his congregation from any safety threats. To his knowledge, none of the team members have military or law enforcement experience. He said they instead took firearms training courses and obtained first aid training. Additionally, some members of the team took dayslong courses in security training and were trained by local law enforcement. Police Chief Strong also said that the church members’ training for responding to emergency situations saved lives.

The safety team members often saw the training as social time, but now Trombley says he sees God’s providence in what they learned as a preparation.

“God had everybody where they needed to be, and He's been working on us for 10 years for that two minutes,” he said.