A Texas pastor made headlines this week by shooting an intruder at his church and then praying with the wounded burglar until police arrived.
According to ABC-13, Pastor Benny Holmes heard someone breaking into the Church of New Beginnings in Baytown, Texas around 6:15 a.m. Tuesday. Holmes grabbed his gun and approached the person.
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"I commanded him to stop twice, and he didn't. So fearing for my life, I did what I had to do," Holmes told ABC-13.
Holmes shot the man, identified as 27-year old Lee Marvin Blue, Jr., in the right shoulder. And then Holmes prayed with the man as he was on the floor.
"I led him through the sinner's prayer while he was on the floor," Holmes told ABC-13. "He repeated the sinner's prayer after me. And that was about it. I'm going to go visit him."
Police released the audio of a 911 call Holmes made after the shooting, which contains surveillance video of the break-in.
"Do you know Jesus? Do you know Jesus?" Holmes asked the intruder while he was on the phone. Near the end of the recording, Holmes and the man can be heard praying together.
This is not the first time Holmes took matters into his own hands. Last September, he caught a
52-year-old grandmother stealing packages from his front porch and held her at gunpoint while he waited for police to arrive.
Holmes said he put two boxes on his front porch in hopes of catching the person who had been stealing packages from houses in the neighborhood. Sure enough, a car pulled up and a woman walked up his driveway.
Holmes walked up to her, his handgun at the ready, and forced her onto the ground while he called police. Authorities later found at least 30 stolen items in her home, ABC reported.
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