Pastor recounts confrontation with gunman at North Braddock church

The reality of being shot at hasn’t fully sunk in for the Rev. Glenn Germany.

He was in mid-sermon Sunday at his North Braddock church when — in full view of parishioners — he said a man moved to the front of the church and raised a gun, aimed it directly at him and pulled the trigger.

In what seems like divine intervention, the gun failed to go off. The mayhem unfolded in real time on a Facebook Live video.

Pennsylvania State Police arrested Bernard J. Polite, 26, of North Braddock on charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment against him. He was denied bail during an arraignment Monday.

Germany said he and the congregation are still coming to grips with what occurred.

After the incident, which happened around 1 p.m. Sunday at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church, Germany said congregation members stuck around to support each other.

“You can tell it brought us closer together as a church,” he said. “We just stayed there, spoke about the incident, saw how the children were doing. The adults were all fine, and we just really talked with one another.”

Germany said that he was physically unharmed in the incident, though he is still rattled by the attempted shooting’s impact on his family. His wife and daughter were in the audience Sunday. His brother, Gary Germany, who is the senior pastor at the church, was also present.

“Watching the effect on my daughter, when we got in the car, seeing her break down, it really just broke me down,” Germany said. “Just making sure she’s OK has been my priority at this point.”

During Sunday’s service, Germany was preaching about “Understanding the Ways of God.” His brother told him he was expecting guests to the church. When he saw Polite walk in and out of the church, he thought he was his brother’s guest, until Polite came up to the front of the church and pulled out a gun.

He said he had never met Polite before Sunday.

“When I saw the gun, I was just trying to get out of the way. I didn’t have time to think, I just reacted,” Germany said.

The church’s deacon, Clarence McCallister, tackled Polite. McCallister and Germany worked together to take the gun away from him and held him down until police arrived.

Germany described his survival as a miracle. He called McCallister a true hero.

“He was unselfish and unafraid to actually jump on a guy who he saw having a gun,” Germany said. “I’m just glad and grateful. It was truly a miracle.”

McCallister, who has attended the church for the past nine years, said he was running the Facebook Live cameras during the service, which captured video of the attempted shooting.

“Once he pointed the gun at his head, I just jumped into action, a reaction,” he said.

McCallister said he grabbed Polite from behind so that he couldn’t move his arms and pulled him down to the ground. He and Germany held Polite down for around 20 minutes until police arrived.

“I was just hoping he didn’t get a shot off,” McCallister said. “I was hoping that the pastor quickly got out of the way. I’m thankful that the pastor was getting out of the way, and that the bullet got jammed in the gun. I’m just so thankful that nobody got hurt. Thank God that that bullet got jammed in that chamber.”

A click could be heard from the silver gun as Polite pointed it at Germany, according to a criminal complaint. Once subdued, Polite said “the spirits in his head told him to do it,” the complaint said.

Polite later told police that “God told him to do it,” and he planned on shooting Germany, then waiting at the church to be arrested, the complaint said.

On Sunday evening, after the church incident, a body was found in Polite’s home on the 500 block of Stokes Avenue, police said.

The body was identified Monday morning by the office of the Allegheny County Medical Examiner as Derek Polite, 56, of North Braddock. He was fatally shot.

It was unclear Monday whether Bernard Polite is connected to that shooting. Authorities are investigating.