Pastor Heroically Disarms Man Who Pulled A Gun At His Tennessee Church
A Tennessee pastor is reflecting on his heroic actions following an alleged act of violence at his North Nashville church.
On Sunday afternoon (November 7), authorities say 26-year-old Dezire Baganda was sitting at the front of Nashville Mission Pentecostal Church when he pulled out a gun and walked up to the altar where Pastor Ezekiel Ndikumana was praying along with several churchgoers.
According to WKRN, Baganda demanded everyone to get up while he waved and pointed the handgun at the congregation. Subsequently, the pastor quickly tackled the armed man before he was able to discharge the weapon. Several church members also jumped in to help wrestle the gun away from Baganda and held him down until police arrived, investigators say.
Pastor Ndikumana spoke with the news station on Sunday evening about what happened.
“He wanted to kill, that’s what first came to my mind,” Ndikumana told WKRN as choir member Nzojibugami Noe, who was also present during the incident, translated for him.
“He was standing in the front of almost everybody,” Noe recalled. “No one was behind him yet, so he could have done anything.”
In video taken of the incident, Pastor Ndikumana can be seen walking behind Baganda pretending to exit the church before sneaking behind him and tackling him.
“I would say that God used me because I felt like I was going to use the back door as an example as going on by trying to go behind him,” Ndikumana said. “And then I felt the feeling that I would go and grab him… and that’s what happened.”
While Baganda was not a member of the church, Ndikumana says he had attended services before. The gun-wielding suspect was reportedly asked to not attend services last February after interrupting pastors during their sermons, however he was never violent before Sunday.
WKRN reports that according to an arrest affidavit, Baganda stated that he was Jesus and that all churches and schools need to be shot up while being taken into custody. He has been charged with 15 counts of felony aggravated assault. Police say more counts are expected to be added early this week.
