Click to Login or Sign Up

Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Jonah auditions (Cartoon: Beyond the Ark) Deep talk (Cartoon: Preacher’s Kids) Preacher talk (Cartoon: Joe McKeever)
  • John 3:16
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Archive
  • Cartoons
    • Joe McKeever
    • Beyond the Ark
    • Church of the Covered Dish
    • Fletch
    • Preacher’s Kids
  • Contact
  • Louisiana
  • U.S. & Intl
  • Facts & Finds
  • Culture & Society
  • Editorial

(Bellevue Baptist/Facebook) Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church on the outskirts of Memphis, Tenn., preaches in the church's Sunday morning Easter services.

Man at Bellevue Easter service with guns arrested for ’emergency commitment’

March 29, 2016

By Gregory Tomlin, Christian Examiner

MEMPHIS (Christian Examiner) – Church security officers and police averted tragedy at the 4,500-member Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis today when a man entered the church with several weapons.

According to police, church security officers saw the man in the church and contacted police during the Easter Sunday Service. He was armed with a semi-automatic rifle, 40-caliber Beretta handgun and was carrying a backpack, the contents of which were not reported.

Officers arrived at the church and took the man into custody without incident. A local television station reported the man, Marcus Donald, 31, was “arrested for emergency commitment.”

Donald reportedly told police “people in society are a threat to him and that he must be vigilant.”

Emergency commitment is the “only time a mentally ill person can be taken into custody solely for being mentally ill,” a spokesman for the University of Memphis Crisis Intervention Team told another local news station.

After the morning services, Jim Barnwell, a Bellevue spokesman, said in a statement no one was injured in the incident:

“A heavily armed man entered our building today about 11:00 a.m. He was stopped by our security people before he could enter the sanctuary, and was subsequently arrested by Memphis Police. We are thankful for the diligence of our security people and the Memphis Police Department,” the statement said.

According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, none of the churchgoers appeared to have known the incident took place. The paper also said Donald was arrested once before in 2007 on a charge of disorderly conduct.

The incident highlights the importance of churches adopting security policies to – if possible – prevent shootings like those that occurred in Charleston, S.C., in 2015 and in Fort Worth, Texas, in September 1999.

Bellevue Baptist Church is pastored by Steve Gaines, who has been nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Convention meets in St. Louis in June.

 

Comments

Editorial

Dodgers’ Kershaw has pitch-perfect response to Pride Night

Clayton Kershaw may not have pitched Friday night, but he still made more headlines than most of his teammates. The Dodgers’ star, who happens to be an outspoken Christian, made a splash at the team’s Pride Night by putting a unique twist on Los Angeles’s gear. It was a simple but powerful statement that June will … Read More

Search

  • Trending
  • Recent
  • Must Read

Recent

VIDEO: The Baptist Paper report from Kerr County, Texa

Search-and-rescue efforts continue in area affected by Texas floods

Texas flooding death toll rises to 24 as Christian summer camp kids remain missing

Must Read

President Trump: ‘We love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them.’

Foundation Executive Director
Jeffrey Steed to retire

Speaker Johnson to Calvary students:

Live to make an ‘impact’

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme 2.1 On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in