Police ID suspected gunman fatally shot at Michigan church

Summer Ballentine and Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News on Jun 23, 2025

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DETROIT — A Michigan man who police said planned a mass shooting at a Wayne church in suburban Detroit Sunday before members ran him over and fatally shot him has been identified as the son of a parishioner.

Wayne police on Monday identified the suspect was 31-year-old Romulus resident Brian Anthony Browning. The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, aided by several local law enforcement agencies and the FBI.

Wayne police said Browning's mother is a member of the church, and he attended services there a few times this past year.

Authorities said Browning was armed with an AR-15 style rifle, more than a dozen fully loaded magazines, a semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition when he pulled up to the church around 11 a.m. Sunday morning in a silver SUV.

Browning's mother is a member of the church, and he has attended services there two or three times over the last year, detectives said.

Officials said they obtained a search warrant for the suspect's house and seized more rifles, several more semi-automatic handguns and a large amount of ammunition.

Browning had no previous contacts with Wayne Police or a criminal history, investigators said. They said he may have been suffering from a mental health crisis.

"There is no evidence to believe that this act of violence has any connection with the conflict in the Middle East," officials said in a statement

The shooting happened during a special youth service at CrossPointe Community Church, 36125 Glenwood Road near Newburgh Road.

Wayne Police Chief Ryan Strong said someone noticed a vehicle being driven erratically outside the church and called police.

CrossPointe Community Church Senior Pastor Bobby Kelly Jr. said a church member saw a man get out of the vehicle and begin shooting at the church. The parishioner, who police and Kelly said does not want to be named at this time, in response hit the suspected gunman in a Ford F-150 truck.

Kelly said church security then fatally shot the gunman.

"The church security team was alerted by the gunfire and reacted quickly to engage the suspect outside the main entrance doors of the church," police said in a statement. "The security team locked the front doors and exchanged gunfire with the suspect, who was shot and killed by a member of the security team."

Kelly said roughly 150 people were at a special vacation Bible school service Sunday and more children than usual were in attendance.

Congregants heard noises many assumed were construction-related and continued services until a security guard directed them to evacuate, Kelly said.

A short clip of a video of the church service, which police confirmed is authentic, shows some members beginning to leave the room. Then a woman at the front says, "Please, everybody come to the back," and more follow.

Officers arrived and performed life-saving measures, but medics pronounced the suspect dead at the scene.

Authorities said a security guard for the church was shot in the leg, taken to the hospital and is listed in stable condition after surgery.

Members of CrossPointe Community Church started a security team roughly a decade ago in response to violence committed at other places of worship around the United States, Kelly said, although the Wayne church has not received threats of violence.

“We are grateful for the quick actions of the church’s staff members, who undoubtedly saved many lives and prevented a large-scale mass shooting,” Strong told reporters at a Sunday briefing. “I would add that the church parishioners and staff members were trained in responding to emergency situations, which also saved lives.”