Police have identified the gunman who was killed Sunday while trying to shoot worshippers in a Michigan church and said his mother is a member.
Brian Anthony Browning, 31, had no criminal history or prior police contact that would have indicated a turn toward violence, police said.
“His motivations are unknown, but at this point it appears he was suffering from a mental health crisis,” Wayne Police Department Chief Ryan Strong told reporters at a news conference Sunday evening.
Police also said Browning’s mother belonged to the church, but was not inside at the time. Browning had attended a few services in the previous year but was not a member.
Browning, of Romulus, Mich., was seen at about 11 a.m. Sunday driving a silver SUV erratically in the parking lot of CrossPointe Community Church, about 25 miles west of Detroit. He parked and emerged clad in camouflage and a tactical vest, “armed with an AR-15 style rifle with more than a dozen fully loaded magazines, a semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine and hundreds of rounds of ammunition,” the Wayne Police Department told the Daily News in an emailed statement.
Several staff members approached Browning as he started shooting, and a parishioner rammed him with a Ford F-150 pickup truck “as the gunman shot the vehicle repeatedly,” Strong said. The church security team locked the church doors. A security guard was shot in the leg before two staff members shot and killed Browning, Strong added, noting that none of those involved wanted to be publicly identified. The wounded guard was in stable condition after surgery.
“We are grateful for heroic actions of the church’s staff members, who undoubtedly saved many lives and prevented a large-scale mass shooting,” Strong said. “I would add that the church parishioners and staff members were trained in responding to emergencies, which also saved lives.”
Wayne Police Department via AP
Brian Anthony Browning was shot and killed Sunday by security staff at CrossPointe Community Church after authorities say he opened fire outside the church. (Wayne Police Department via AP)
Officers tried to save Browning’s life as well, police said, but to no avail. At his home investigators found rifles, semi-automatic handguns and more ammunition, the department’s statement said.
About 150 people, including families with children, were inside wrapping up a special vacation Bible school service that was being livestreamed. The feed showed someone speaking from a stage one minute, then everyone whipping around in unison toward someone telling them to evacuate, and streaming toward the back of the church.
Witness Wendy Bodin, who dove into a bathroom when she heard shots while making a phone call in the church lobby, noted that the previous Sunday’s service, on Father’s Day, had been held outside.
“It would have been a different story,” she told WDIV-TV. “Thank God we were indoors.”
With News Wire Services
