A man with a concealed weapons permit inexplicable pulled out his gun during a service at the Keystone Fellow Church in Pennsylvania, because he felt provoked by a fellow worshiper. Why? He was in the wrong seat.
Watch the story with New York Daily News footage at the end of the article.
The argument began when a church member tapped Robert Braxton III, 27, on the shoulder to tell him he was in someone else’s seat. Braxton didn’t take kindly to the correction and yelled:
“Don’t f***ing touch me.”
A church usher and a pastor calmed him down, but then Mark Storms, 46, entered the argument and told Braxton the seats were reserved for two other church members.
Not only that; Storms flashed his concealed weapons permit badge, hinted at his gun and told Braxton to get out of the sanctuary. Apparently he showed off the badge in the past, which had made aggressors walk away. He hoped it would work this time as well to defuse the situation.
But the gun triggered a violent reaction with Braxton punching Storms in the jaw, yelling:
“F*** you and your fake badge, get the f*** out of here.”
Braxton didn’t seem to think it was a real gun, and even went on to challenge Storm:
“What are you going to do, shoot me?”
Tragically, the argument ended with Storms firing a bullet into Braxton’s chest and another one in his right arm.
Braxton died from the gunshot wounds later the same afternoon at the Abington-Lansdale Hospital, and Storms was arrested and charged with voluntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment.
Storms claimed that he used his weapon for self-defense, but Montgomery county district attorney Kevin Steele stated at a press conference held Thursday:
“Storms’ shooting of Mr. Braxton was not a reasonable self-defense situation […] It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to bring a gun to church.”
250-300 people on average attend Sunday service in Keystone Fellow Church. Braxton’s aunt Diana Walters told WPVI:
“You don’t go to church to be killed, you just don’t do that […] He’s a young man. He had his whole life ahead of him.”
Studies have shown that guns rarely are used in self-defense. Even so, bringing a gun inside what many consider a holy place, and then use it over a petty squabble over seats, must top the list of unnecessary deaths enabled by the pro-gun lobbying, working so hard to maintain America’s love affair with firearms.
Bail is set at $250,000. Watch the story with New York Daily News footage here:
Featured image screen grab from Youtube.
