A Texas man disrupted a church Christmas presentation Thursday night, waving a screwdriver as he climbed onstage, but one churchgoer stepped in and hit the man with a music stand, police said.
The incident at the First Baptist Church began at 6:30 p.m. when off-duty police working security noticed a man driving erratically in the church's parking lot, KTRK reported. When police confronted the man, he ran into the church sanctuary, brandishing a screwdriver, the television station reported.
"When he pulled around to the front of the church, he actually jumped out of the vehicle while it was slowly moving," Lt. Tom Warnke, of the Pasadena Police Department, told KPRC. "During that time the officer chased him into the church."
Authorities said the man ran to the front of the sanctuary and tripped over instruments as he scrambled through the church's orchestra pit, KHOU reported.
That's when a churchgoer used a music stand, hitting the man and allowing police to subdue him, KTRK reported.
"All of a sudden I hear somebody drop, like bang!" Olivia Garcia, who was in the audience, told KHOU. "It was crazy."
The man, who was not identified, faces aggravated assault charges, police said.
In a statement to KTRK, church officials said, "An unstable man entered our building last night as we were preparing to begin the first night of our annual Christmas presentation. Without provocation, he rushed into the auditorium and began to take threatening actions in the front of the room. He was successfully restrained by our security team and the Pasadena Police Department. Aside from relatively minimal property damage, no one was physically harmed to our knowledge."
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