According to the court documents, Leavitt drove to the Fort Wayne Church’s live nativity scene armed with a loaded semi-automatic pistol. His wife was sitting beside him in the van. Leavitt pointed the weapon at a New Haven Police Department officer who was working in security and started threatening the congregation, screaming that he “wanted to kill everyone there”.

Over 100 people – including children and animals – gathered for the nativity play. Leavitt intended to drive his van into the crowds, but fortunately, security managed to stop him. Leavitt crashed his van into a trench, attempted to use his wife as a human shield and threatened attendees with a knife.

According to authorities: “Officers had to use force to restrain the defendant and take him into custody because the defendant would not obey verbal commands.” One person was shot, and another suffered minor injuries during the incident. 

Leavitt has been charged with disorderly conduct, recklessness with a deadly weapon, resisting law enforcement, pointing a loaded gun at another person, disarming a police officer, battery with a deadly weapon and criminal confinement. 

The Ministry of Fort Wayne Church expressed gratitude that security defended the congregation: “We are praising God for His protection tonight. We are ready to show up in the morning for a time of worship to the God who is our peace, our protector, the only God who can turn a tragedy into a beautiful time for the body of Christ to come together.”

Senior Pastor Jeremy Helmuth stated: “Heroes ran into danger to prevent evil; people in our flock, in our church, people that risked their lives for the sake of other people. They ran into danger. That’s not normal. People usually run from danger. They usually hide. We had so many people … but why? Is it just because they are doing their duty? Oh, it’s much deeper than that.”

Source: https://www.christianpost.com