Opinion
The massacre that never happened!
On Sunday June 22, 2025, a single VCA drove into a church parking-lot in Wayne, MI (a Detroit suburb), exited his vehicle, and (with some kind of long gun) immediately fired several mostly unaimed shots into the church building. Those shots struck the building but caused property damage only.
Background: Church Staff Stop Would-Be Mass Shooter in Wayne, Michigan
On June 22, 2025, a potential mass shooting at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Michigan, was thwarted by quick-thinking church staff and security personnel. Around 11 a.m., as the Sunday service was underway with over 150 congregants—including many children attending a special vacation Bible school event—a 31-year-old man armed with a rifle, handgun, and wearing a tactical vest began firing outside the church.
As the gunman approached, a church member driving a pickup truck struck him, slowing his advance. The church’s security team, in place for over a decade in response to rising attacks on houses of worship nationwide, engaged the shooter and fatally shot him before he could enter the building. One staff member was shot in the leg during the exchange but is recovering after surgery.
Police and the church’s pastor, Bobby Kelly, credited the staff’s decisive actions and “the hand of God” for preventing what could have been a devastating tragedy. The gunman, identified as Brian Browning of Romulus, Michigan, was reportedly suffering from a mental health crisis and had no prior criminal record or known connection to the church.
Authorities later discovered additional firearms and ammunition at Browning’s home.
Witnessing what was happening, an alert church-parishioner, who was also in the parking lot and in his vehicle, drove toward the suspect, striking him and knocking him down.
The suspect then fired his weapon at the vehicle that had just hit him, likely striking it, but inflicting no injury to the driver.
Shortly thereafter, at least two armed church security guards (who were also members of the Church), hearing, then seeing, what was happening, fired at the still-armed suspect, inflicting fatal wound(s).
Security guards were presumably armed only with (concealed) pistols, but neither weapon types, nor calibers, were reported.
In any event, the suspect was DRT.
One security guard was struck in the leg by at least one bullet (presumably fired by the suspect) and was transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injury(s).
Prior to exiting his vehicle, this VCA had been “driving erratically/recklessly,” which garnered the attention of the church’s security staff.
The VCA’s mother was a member of the church, and the VCA himself had previously attended church services there several times. Not surprisingly, he had a history of “mental-health issues.”
No word on whether the weapon used by the VCA was legally owned, legally obtained, nor to whom it legitimately belonged.
In the aftermath of the incident, the local Chief of Police has been very supportive of the church’s security staff, speculating that their aggressive and heroic actions likely prevented a mass homicide.
In a subsequent televised interview with a local news reporter, one of the church security guards who fired fatal shot(s) at the VCA revealed that he had never been sure of what he would do in such an emergency.
Obviously, his training kicked-in, and without hesitation, he took care of business!
Lessons: We continuously train as diligently as we can for such life-threatening emergencies, incorporating physical skills with philosophical resolve, but as this security guard articulated:
- 1) We can never be absolutely sure of what we will do “when the moment arrives.”
- 2) With any luck, we’ll never know!
“Sometimes, in order to save a life, you must end a life!” ~ Police Axiom.
PS: I highly recommend not talking with the media in the aftermath of any lethal-force incident in which you may have been involved.
Confine all such conversations to your lawyer (at least in the short term)!
/John
Armed Intervention: ‘You Are Your Own First Responder,’ Says MI Church Volunteer
About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor, John Farnam will urge you, based on your beliefs, to make up your mind about what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to ensure that its students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.
It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to Planet Earth. Mr. Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com
These folks did a great job.
Some of the congregation however has terrible survival instincts that could use some work.
When you go into public footwear is important. Crocs and flip flops are not appropriate in emergencies.
I strongly advise against ever relying on others only for your safety. Carry
Unfortunately some churches haven’t had any training! They’re sole reliance is on whomever is carrying that day and I can assure you that those people have had absolutely no training either! It’s a dangerous mess! Our former church tried this with me even though I offered to contact trainers and provide training materials. I informed them that there was more to security than people carrying firearms and that I’m not the ‘Lone Ranger’! Our new church talked about security but, for the most part, just locked the doors. I spend most of my time outdoors, in God’s great kingdom, but… Read more »
Bizarre we have to worry about this kind of stuff at Church now.
We have second duty LEOs in uniforms and plain clothes providing security at our several thousand congregant muti-campus church. But, like all LEOs’ DNA, they tend to flock up around the coffee’n’donut bar except when directing traffic after services.
god will sort that one to the right place
One month old. Why the repeats? The suspect is dead. I love a happy ending.
VCA? DRT? When writing an article, it’s standard practice to spell out the full term the first time it appears, followed by the acronym in parentheses
I don’t want to be the only moron here, but what is a “VCA”? It’s not an acronym with which I am familiar. Regardless, I’m glad the story had a happy ending.