A pastor in Houston, Texas, is being hailed a hero after confronting an alleged thief who assaulted his elderly neighbors, according to reports.
The incident occurred on June 15, when Pastor Heath Haynes intervened in a violent home invasion and came face-to-face with the suspect.
“If it wasn’t for him, we’d probably be dead,” neighbor Sharon Koehn told KTRK of the captured confrontation.
The suspect, identified as 54-year-old Shane Jennings, forced his way into Koehn and her husband’s home after knocking on their door. He allegedly pushed his way past the elderly woman as she tried to close the front door and shoved her husband, Earl Koehn, to the floor.
Haynes, who had just moved into the neighborhood, then came out of his house and realized that the Koehns were in trouble.
“Looking through the window, I could see Earl being on the ground, coat rack over his chest, man rifling through his pocket,” Haynes told the local station. “I’m banging on the door.”
Jennings left the victims’ house with a set of car keys and a wallet, but Haynes chased the suspect and began recording.
“What do you think you’re doing, man?” the pastor is heard asking Jennings, according to the footage obtained by KTRK.
“You’re beating that man up? Hey, put it down! Put it down! Put it down!” he continued as he tried to get the alleged thief to drop the keys and wallet. Haynes then decided to back up so no one else would get wounded as Jennings attempted to wield a heavy tree branch against him.
The suspect damaged the Koehns’ car and caused damage to the brick facade of the house by ramming through a neighbor’s fence before fleeing through another driveway.
Jennings was later arrested on six felony charges, including aggravated assault of an elderly person and assault of a peace officer.
Haynes, a pastor with “The Bridge HTX” home church network, is only momentarily residing next to the Koehns. He said that he and his wife moved in with her family while their house was being repaired.
“Jesus says to love your neighbor, and we take that literally,” Haynes told KTRK.
