The kidnapping epidemic that has affected South Africa this decade can have a new criminal leave when an American shepherd was caught at a gunpoint while preached in a Baptist church in Motherwell, outside the city of Gqeberha.
The Local Police said that four masked men kidnapped Pastor Josh Sullivan and took the minister in their own car, shortened a prayer meeting at the end of the day he had for a meeting at the Baptist Church of Felowship in Motherwell. His wife and six children also attended, but they were not breath, they reported multiple media.
“It is alleged that while a sermon was made in the church, four armed and masked suspects entered the church,” the local police said in a statement. “They stole two cell phones and then the 45 -year -old male shepherd with them and fled the scene.”
A “family spokesman”, another minister named Jeremy Hall, cools a first -hand account on Friday for Timeslive in South Africa. He said the kidnapping seemed like a rescue kidnapping. There has been a dramatic increase in kidnappings in South Africa, for a total of approximately 17,000 in fiscal year 2023-2023. The global initiative against transnational crime attributes the increase to an increase in extortion.
“They knew his name,” Hall said. “The men entered the Church and Initialic kept Meagan and accompanied her to him before saying:” Josh, is this his wife? “Then they pushed her to the ground and Tok Josh before driving in her vehicle.”
The Pastor’s Toyota Forerunner was found less than two miles shortly after, police told the media.
“We are praying for its safe return,” Hall added. The Church’s Facebook page is also asking for sentences.
Sullivan arrived in South Africa with his Tennessee family in November 2018, according to his personal website where he explained his passion for being an African missionary:
On January 1, 2010 I accepted God’s call to preach. Unlike most men, the vision of grazing a church was not something that God placed in my heart. I am not sure that God would tend me, I knew from the beginning that God would have me in missions. In 2013, I accepted the call to go to the missionary field in South Africa. We arrived in South Africa in November 2018. We are looking to finish the language school soon and plant a church for the people of speaking Xhosa.
Pastor Sullivan added: “Nothing that man can do is good, but with Christ in the helmet, man can be used to bring glory to his name.”
Until now, the police have not reported any rescue demand. The case is being investigated by the Anti-Gang unit of the South Africa Police Service (SAPS). That same unit is investigating a Chinese citizen was kidnapped on Tuesday in the same city, which is in the Indian ocean and about 570 miles southeast of Johannesburg.
A spokesman for the US Department of State. Uu. He told CBS News that they realize the kidnapping of an American citizen in South Africa. The agency said it has no more information to share at this time.
Lowell Cauffiel taxpayer is the best selling author of Under the line and nine other criminal novels and non -fiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more information.
