Armed suspects robbed Brooklyn bishop, wife mid-sermon, police say
BROOKLYN (PIX11) --- Gun-toting thieves brazenly barged into a Brooklyn church Sunday and robbed a bishop and his wife mid-sermon, according to police.
Bishop Lamor Whitehead, 44, was preaching at Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministry on Remsen Street in Canarsie at around 11:15 a.m. when three male suspects stormed in and robbed the preacher and his wife, 38, at gunpoint, police said. The victims told police the men made off with over a million dollars in jewelry, including rings, watches, and chains.
One of the suspects allegedly pointed a gun in the face of Whitehead's eight-month-old child, he said in a Facebook post.
"As I was preaching, I see there or four armed men come in... I told everybody to get down," Whitehead said in the social media post. "I didn't know if they wanted to shoot the church up or just coming for a robbery."
Whitehead was laying on the ground in his burgundy vestments saying, “Yo, all right, all right, all right” after the bandits interrupted his lecture, according to a video obtained by the Daily News. One of the thieves is then seen in the video straddling the preacher as he takes the jewelry and stuffs it into his pockets.
"It hurts me because my church is hurt." the preacher said in his Facebook post.
After the incident, Whitehead said he followed the robbers and saw them getting into a white Mercedes-Benz where they changed their clothes and took off their masks before fleeing the scene.
The preacher pleaded with the public for help in the hour-long Facebook post and is offering a $50,000 cash reward for the suspects' capture.
"I want justice. I want these men arrested," he said.