{"id":239699,"date":"2026-04-08T02:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/239699\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T02:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:15:12","slug":"security-guard-tackles-armed-man-at-houston-church-service-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/239699\/","title":{"rendered":"Security guard tackles armed man at Houston church service, police say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

A Texas man armed with a loaded gun and more than 100 rounds of ammunition was tackled by a security guard inside a Houston church<\/a> before he could open fire, police said.<\/p>\n

Emmanuel Ahsono Mbwavi, 23, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, court records show.<\/p>\n

Houston police said that on March 15, Mbwavi arrived at Eden Church, which holds services at Post Entertainment Center in downtown Houston on Sunday mornings.<\/p>\n

According to court documents, a member of the church\u2019s security team<\/a> recognized Mbwavi, who had been asked to leave the property roughly two months earlier after he tried handing out “concerning” flyers.<\/p>\n

FLORIDA BILL WOULD LET CHURCHES USE ARMED VOLUNTEERS INSTEAD OF LICENSED SECURITY<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Emmanuel <\/p>\n

Emmanuel Ahsono Mbwavi was arrested March 15 after allegedly attempting to bring a firearm into a Houston church before being stopped by security. (Houston Police Department)<\/p>\n

Based on that history, the church’s pastor asked the security team to monitor Mbwavi.<\/p>\n

The security guard told police he saw Mbwavi wearing a backpack and following a pastor into the bathroom, then walking in and out multiple times before disappearing into the crowd.<\/p>\n

According to court documents, another pastor confronted Mbwavi, and while the two were speaking, the security guard noticed Mbwavi holding the grip of a pistol in his pocket.<\/p>\n

ARMED TEXAS MAN IN DRESSED TACTICAL GEAR ARRESTED AFTER GOING INTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THROUGH UNSECURE DOOR<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Emmanuel <\/p>\n

Emmanuel Ahsono Mbwavi was arrested March 15 after allegedly bringing a loaded gun to a Houston church service, where he was tackled by security. (Houston Police Department)<\/p>\n

The guard told police he saw Mbwavi reach for the gun and tackled him, believing he was about to harm members of the security team and congregation.<\/p>\n

Mbwavi had his cellphone in his hand and was allegedly counting down, leading the guard to believe a bomb could be detonated.<\/p>\n

The security team and members of the church assisted the guard in restraining Mbwavi.<\/p>\n

While on the ground, Mbwavi allegedly shouted, “I\u2019m going to kill [the pastor], who is a fake prophet. I am a prophet called Warlock.”<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Houston <\/p>\n

Houston Police Department reveals the new image for future HPD patrol vehicles outside Houston Police Department Headquarters in Downtown on Monday, July 2, 2012, in Houston. (Mayra Beltran\/Houston Chronicle)<\/p>\n

Mbwavi’s cellphone was allegedly open to a notes application containing information<\/a> about killing the church’s pastor.<\/p>\n

Mbwavi was carrying a .22-caliber revolver loaded with six live rounds<\/a>, along with more than 100 additional rounds in his backpack, according to court documents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! A Texas man armed with a loaded gun and more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[392,56,58,57,59289,14519,66151],"class_list":{"0":"post-239699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-greg-abbott","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-headlines","11":"tag-houston-news","12":"tag-joel-osteen","13":"tag-mass-shootings","14":"tag-second-amendment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}