Heavily Armed Man Kills Dog at Church, Returns to Menace Congregation

After allegedly killing his own dog on church property and threatening to kill people at the church, a Texas man who had been attending an LGBTQ-affirming church in Fort Worth was arrested. He was charged with animal cruelty and terroristic threats.

According to church officials, the man had been going to the church for a few months, and his actions were not hate crimes but instead the actions of a troubled person, the Fort Worth Star-Telegramreports.

“We believe this was not an attack on the church’s progressive values, but the actions of a lone disturbed individual,” Dan Sexton, board president of All Peoples Church, wrote in an email to the paper.

Police responded to an incident at All Peoples Church, formerly First Jefferson Unitarian Universalist Church, around 11 a.m. on Wednesday. When officers arrived in the garden, the caller pointed them to a dead dog "cut open," according to a police log, and a rifle and several bullet casings nearby.

A review of security camera video revealed the sounds of shots fired around 3:40 a.m. Wednesday, a spokesperson said.

The police were called again at 4:30 p.m., in response to a report of a man carrying a shotgun and ammunition inside the church. Police found the man close to a gun when they arrived at the church. Police him and have identified him as Roman Collins, 27.

All Peoples Church administrator Karl Thibodeaux said in a statement to the paper that he had called the police that afternoon. He said that Collins told him that he'd killed his dog and "further carnage" was planned. Thibodeaux was able to make it to a neighbor's house and call police. When police got there Collins was allegedly waiting for people to show up to choir practice.

The Star-Telegram reports that when officers searched Collins, they discovered a shotgun, a fixed-blade knife, a handgun, several loaded magazines, medical supplies, and a water canteen. Collins’s truck also contained a rifle converted to use handgun magazines.

Authorities interviewed Collins after his arrest. Although police have not provided a motive for Collins’s threats, they say no evidence supports that Collins committed a hate crime, according to the paper.

He faces several felony charges of terroristic threats, cruelty to a non-livestock animal, and carrying weapons unlawfully. He has since been transferred to Tarrant County Jail, where bail has been set at $200,000.