I was shocked and appalled tonight as I watched the news. The news was buzzing with the news that officers from the Tallahassee Police Department shot and killed a 17 year old male over the weekend. My wife and I were out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend, and we had not heard about this story. However, when the news showed the video of the police vehicles parked around the scene, my jaw dropped as I recognized it as the grounds of our church. Because I was in a state of disbelief, I went to the web site of our local newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat, where reading the article releasing the names of the officers confirmed that it was our church.

According to the Democrat ("Police Shoot, Kill Man"), there were shots fired outside a nightclub on Tennessee Street, a major road through town. A vehicle matching the description of the vehicle involved was seen turning onto High Road, on which our church is located, and then the vehicle was seen turning into the parking lot of our church (The Democrat reports that the vehicle was parked in our church parking lot, but the TPD Press Release states that the officer saw the vehicle turn into our parking lot). According to the press release and the newspaper, the driver of the car exited the vehicle as directed and was detained, but the second person in the vehicle did not follow instructions. Officers used a baton and the Taser stun gun before resorting to lethal force.

Please pray for all the parties involved in this. Pray for the officers that had to unfortunately take someone's life to protect ours. Pray for the family of the young man that was killed. Pray that God uses this for good for our church. Pray for our church and its members to have wisdom in knowing how to deal with this situation.

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