Pastor Tackles and Disarms Gunman at Sunday Service: 'God Used Me'

A Nashville pastor is being praised for heroically tackling and disarming a man with a gun who threatened his Sunday service.

Ezekiel Ndikumana, pastor at Nashville Light Mission Pentecostal Church, responded swiftly on Sunday when a man walked toward him and pointed a gun at his congregation as many began to flee the scene.

Ndikumana—as shown in the above video—took matters into his own hands, running up behind the suspect, 26-year-old Dezire Baganda who has attended the church before, successfully tackling and disarming him before he was able to fire his gun.

Metro police say the man—who previously interrupted pastors during their sermons and was asked to no longer return—told everyone to get up before he waved the gun, and that Ndikumana held him to the ground until authorities arrived. Choir member Nzojibugami Noe told WKRN that the man “wanted to kill” and “could have done anything.”

As Ndikumana puts it, “God wanted to show that he’s a powerful God” in the church that day.

“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 told WKRN. “And then I felt the feeling that I would go and grab him… and that’s what happened.”

Baganda is being charged with 15 counts of felony aggravated assault and police say more counts are being added.