California Pastor Fends Off Would-Be Burglar With Martial Arts Skills
A California pastor was able to fight off a would-be burglar with martial arts skills. You do not want to rob his church!
The incident happened in Antioch, California in an incident that’s now being described as a battle of good and evil. On one hand, you have a burglar. He’ll be representing the bad guys. In the other corner, you have a pastor who represents the good. It sounds like this is one of those stories where the good guy came out on top.
Did A California Pastor Fight Off A Burglar With Martial Arts Skills?
According to KTVU, an axe-wielding burglar broke into the First Family Church in Antioch just after midnight on Thanksgiving. The incident set off an alarm alerting people to the alleged burglary attempt. During a Sunday sermon after it all went down, Pastor Nick Neves said from the pulpit, “Pray for the man that tried to rob us. One of the ten commandments is ‘you shall not steal.’ So, in that respect, yeah, I was stopping this man from doing evil.”
It sounds like when the pastor arrived on scene he found a broken window and a man who didn’t belong there. Reports say the man started to run and he followed him into the parking lot where he grabbed them and a “tussle” ensued. That’s when KTVU reports the pastor relied on his martial arts training and was able to fight him off during the fight that lasted around 15 minutes. He was able to get to a phone during the fight and called 911. Police arrived quickly and were able to take the suspect into custody safely.
KTVU reports that Pastor Neves is a little bruise but is already forgiving the intruder. Antioch Mayor-Elect Ron Bernal told KTVU, “It’s unfortunate our community finds itself in a place where people feel it’s necessary to take matters of public safety into their own hands. I’m looking forward to new leadership that will prioritize creating a safer Antioch.”
Neves believes the suspect was trying to take cleaning supplies, food from a refrigerator, and tried to break into the snack machine at the church but was unsuccessful. He estimates the damages to the church cost around $2,000. It is still not publicly known what charges the alleged intruder will be facing. That’s one bad ass pastor! I wish there was video of the fight so we could see his martial arts moves. You don’t expect a pastor to be familiar with karate.