A flashy New York City bishop who was robbed at gunpoint during a worship service says pastors should be allowed to arm themselves.
Bishop Lamor Whitehead and his wife were robbed of $400K in jewels while delivering a sermon at his church in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday.
Police said three armed men burst into the church around 11:15 a.m., and “displayed firearms and demanded property” from the 44-year-old bishop and his wife, 38.
“When I see them come into the sanctuary with their guns, I told everybody to get out, everybody just get out,” Whitehead recalled in an Instagram video posted after the robbery. “I didn’t know if they wanted to shoot the church up or if they were just coming for a robbery.”
Video of the assault went viral on social media and aired on local news outlets. In the video, Whitehead can be heard saying, “all right, all right,” before putting his hands up and dropping to the floor.
The gunmen fled in a Mercedes Benz, police say. They are still at large.
Guns are banned in NY, but that doesn’t stop criminals from getting their hands on one.
Whitehead is known for his flashy persona, custom jewelry and loud tailored suits.
In May, Whitehead negotiated the surrender of a murder suspect, then drove the suspect to a police precinct in his tricked out Rolls-Royce.
Andrew Abdullah, 25, was wanted in the fatal shooting of Goldman Sachs employee Daniel Enriquez on a Manhattan-bound Q train.
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This morning , Gun point robbery took place a church at 922 Remsen Avenue in Brooklyn NY , they robbed jewelry from the church goers including the pastor and fled in a Benz. The NYPD is investigating this at the moment #Newsnight #weekend #Church pic.twitter.com/8rZf8jyDUl— Viral News NY (@ViralNewsNYC) July 24, 2022