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Pastor Tackles Gunman Who Threatened His Mother

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A Florida pastor is being hailed a hero after tackling a gunman who threatened his mother during church service Sunday.

The Christian Post reports that Pastor Les Snodgrass, with The Door Christian Fellowship Church in Melbourne, Florida, was preaching a sermon about "What's Life Worth," when a man took out a gun and threatened his mother with it.

"He pulled a gun from his bag and put it up to my mother's head," Snodgrass said.

According to WKMG Local 6, the gunman, 21-year-old John Grace, demanded money from the congregation.

The pastor's wife, Marie Snodgrass, told The Christian Post the service was just about to end when Grace, who had attended the church several times, interrupted the service.

"Johnny came out from the bathrooms in the back. He said 'bye' and walked next to my mother-in-law and that's when we heard him yell, 'Nobody say anything; nobody move,'" she recalled.

"And I didn't know what was going on. I was on the opposite end of the row and I leaned forward to look and I saw the gun to her head," she said.

Marie said Grace started waving the gun around in the air and also had a knife. Pastor Snodgrass pleaded with him as a distraction and was eventually able to jump him while hitting and punching him.

He then wrestled the gun from Grace and was able to make him to drop the knife. Snodgrass and his son subdued the man until police arrived.

Police said Grace had wielded a BB gun. He was arrested and charged with armed robbery and 20 addditional charges.

"After the police left, everybody who was involved minus Johnny, we stayed behind and my husband led us in a prayer of forgiveness so we could forgive him," Marie said. "There is still anger towards his actions but we forgave him for what he did."

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