A bishop who was giving a sermon and his wife were robbed of more than $1 million worth of jewelry at a Brooklyn church Sunday, police said. The thief was caught on a live stream of the service.
Lamor M. Whitehead, 44, bishop of the Heads of Tomorrow’s International Ministries in the southeastern Brooklyn neighborhood of Canarsie, talked about the armed robbery in an Instagram postcalled it an example of “how the devil moves”.
“The devil doesn’t care; he sent them,” said Mr. Whitehead. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Just before the robbery began, video of the sermon posted on YouTube showed Mr. Whitehead posing a question to his congregation: “How many of you have lost your faith because you have seen others die. ?” According to Whitehead, police and video footage, almost immediately afterward, a trio of armed and masked men dressed in black entered the church.
Seconds after his question, Mr. Whitehead appeared to spot the intruders as they entered the church and he lay down on the raised stage while raising his arms. “I don’t know if they wanted to bombard the church or they came to rob,” he said in the Instagram post. The parishioners could hear the shrill screams. It is not clear how many people attended.
He described lying on the ground with a gun pointed at him and then being stripped of all his belongings, including a watch, multiple necklaces, a wedding band and a bishop’s cross. He said the attackers twisted his cleric’s collar to get his necklace. Mr Whitehead said he believes the intruders were unaware they were being filmed.
Police said the jewelry was also taken from Mr Whitehead’s 38-year-old wife and added that neither victim was injured. After the theft occurred shortly after 11 a.m., the three men fled on foot and got into a white Mercedes-Benz. Police said they were last seen driving away and no arrests have been made. The New York Police Department said an investigation was underway.
In Sunday’s Instagram post, Mr Whitehead addressed the thieves and asked them to turn themselves in. He told them that their actions had injured parishioners, including young children, who he said were still crying. He said a gun was lodged in his 8-month-old daughter’s face.
“You did this to the church, the church where I’m sure your grandmother praises God and Jesus,” he said. “There’s no reason for you to go inside a church and breach it.”
Mr Whitehead also responded to criticism calling him “flashy” for his luxury car and accessories.
“It’s about me buying what I want to buy,” Mr. Whitehead said. “My privilege is to buy the things I want to buy if I have worked hard.”
He also expressed gratitude to God that his church had avoided a mass shooting, a deadly scenario that he credits other churches have experienced. He promised to return to the podium to preach this Sunday.
Mr. Whitehead said during a Facebook live stream on Monday that he would offer a $50,000 cash reward for information leading to the arrest of armed robbers.
