BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ( WIAT ) — On the heels of the church shooting in Houston, a 17-year-old Montgomery murder suspect was arrested Sunday after he was found with a gun on the Church of Highlands’ Pelham campus.
Jeffrey Rush, the safety and security director of a local church, believes if a congregation doesn’t have a safety or security team in place after what’s happened in Houston and here at home, those conversations need to be had.
“Let’s not be driven by incidents,” Rush said.
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Rush is a visiting assistant professor at the University of South Alabama teaching criminal justice. He also works closely with other churches across the country as they train safety teams.
Rush said church safety is one of his focuses in his class and security in a church is treated differently than other places.
“If you can talk somebody down, that is significantly better than having to go hands-on with somebody or having to use deadly force,” Rush said. “In a church environment, our experience has been that most of the time, that’s what the people need.”