Missouri pastor Mike Coleman is thankful to be alive after being carjacked at gunpoint by two teens in the parking lot of Carondelet Baptist Church in South St. Louis on Friday evening.
The carjacking, which was the latest in a local string of violent crimes, was caught on camera. In the footage, two assailants, who Coleman described as being middle school aged, can be seen approaching Coleman in his minivan and pointing a gun in his face.
Coleman told KMOV that he needed to assist the boys in getting the car started, as they seemed inexperienced.
“Because of their inexperience, because—I didn’t want them to say, hey, this isn’t working out, shoot the guy and go,” he said. “Seriously, I was trying to think a step ahead of them, but honestly, I just really did not know what to do, did not have time, and that transpires in about a minute, two minutes almost, maybe three—every second felt like an eternity.”
Coleman also surrendered his wallet to the teens.
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The boys did not get far with the minivan, striking several other vehicles before abandoning it a few blocks away from the church.
Coleman said that he would press charges, because he wants the assailants to be held accountable, as well as to prevent similar crimes from happening in the future.
On Monday, police announced that they had taken one 13-year-old boy into custody. He has been remanded into juvenile detention.
Local faith leaders and community members have been alarmed by a number of violent crimes that have been committed by teens in the area over the last couple of weeks, including robberies, assaults, and carjackings, some of which have resulted in fatalities.
Some are calling the trend a “public health crisis.”
Pastor Derrick Perkins of Centennial Christian Church Disciples of Christ told KSDK, “We have to address these things while they are young—so that they don’t grow into individuals who become adults—without the support that they need.”
“It just breaks my heart,” Perkins went on to say. “It seems like…we should be able to do something more to protect young people and to protect them from all the risk factors that are available to them.”
Perkins cited poverty, stressful home environments, and current gun regulations as possible risk factors.
“There’s a lot of fear that young people are up against as they travel from home to school to wherever they’re going and that is the fear of if they’re going to be protected from some of the elements that’s going on in the community,” he said. “What happens is sometimes they join those elements because they don’t feel protected and safe.”
Este artículo apareció originalmente en ChurchLeaders.com.
Dale Chamberlain (M.Div) es el administrador de contenido de ChurchLeaders.com. También es un bloguero y un podcaster apasionado por ayudar a las personas a abordar verdades antiguas en entornos cotidianos. Vive en el sur de California con su esposa Tamara y sus dos hijos.
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Isn’t it wonderful how good fathers tend to help their children feel safe? Like God…
Strong, nuclear families are so important when it comes to raising healthy kids. The baby-mama culture has got to go. It is destroying our country from the inside out. Indeed, dare I say MATRIARCHY isn’t working?
Good that this report included the thinking of Pastor Derrick Perkins. I can’t myself other than be glad that Pastor Mike Coleman is okay, but heartbroken that the lives of two youngsters are probably now ruined. There but for the grace of God go you and I.