The pastor was in the middle of his impassioned sermon when masked individuals stormed in and held the entire congregation at gunpoint as they robbed the clergyman and his wife.
Lamor M. Whitehead is a 44-year-old clergyman known for his showy jewelry, cars, and fashion. He serves as a bishop at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in the southeastern Brooklyn neighborhood of Canarsie.
He is also widely known because of his social media presence. Since the incident, he has taken to social media to discuss it as well, calling it a prime example of “how the devil moves.”
He believes the devil is the one who sent these assailants to his Sunday service as the devil does not care about anything.
The Bishop seems to be a close friend of Mayor Eric Adams. The former thinks of himself as a “mentee,” of the current mayor. He tried to replace Adams as the Brooklyn borough president last year but his campaign was unsuccessful.
The footage of the robbery was posted online as the sermon was being live-streamed. In the video, the Bishop is posing a question to his congregation right before the three gunmen storm the building, he asks, “How many of you have lost your faith because you saw somebody else die?”
Soon after the gunmen enter the building, the Bishop spots them.
“I didn’t know if they wanted to shoot the church up, or if they were just coming for a robbery,” the Bishop later said on Instagram. As the Bishop spotted them, he laid down on the floor with his hands in the air. In the video, the crowd could be heard shrieking and shouting.
Later Whitehead recounted the entire ordeal of having a gun pointed at his head as the assailants took his belongings. They took the clergyman’s watch, several chains, and his Bishop’s cross. He said that the assailants forcefully removed his clergy collar to get to his chains. He believes that the gunmen had no idea they were being filmed.
The clergyman’s wife was also robbed and all her jewelry was taken as well. After the robbery, the assailants fled on foot and then entered their white Mercedes-Benz vehicle. All in all, almost $1 million worth of goods had been stolen.
In his Instagram post, Whitehead lamented about the attack and shared that people from his congregation including a lot of children were traumatized by the incident. He also shared that a gun had been held in his 8-month-old daughter’s face.
He was incredibly upset that something like this happened in his church. He said, “You did this to the church, the church where I’m sure your grandmother praises God and Jesus. There’s no reason for you to come inside a church and violate it.”
The clergyman has also faced criticism for owning such expensive items, to begin with. He has responded to the criticism by saying, “It’s about me purchasing what I want to purchase,” Mr. Whitehead said. “It’s my prerogative to purchase what I want to purchase if I worked hard for it.”
He also said he was grateful that it was not a mass shooting incident, which other congregations have faced. And promised to be back to preach next Sunday as usual.
He is also offering a $50,000 reward for anyone who can come forward with information that can lead to an arrest for the robbery.
It is incredibly sad to see that even places of worship and peace are being targeted by criminals. We hope the assailants are caught soon!
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