Valedictorian-turned-gunman Brian Browning blamed congregation for friend’s death weeks before launching AR-15 assault on Sunday service
A former West Point candidate who went from military glory to mayhem posted dark threats on Facebook just weeks before attempting a bloodbath at a Michigan church – only to be stopped by a quick-thinking deacon who ran him down with a truck.
Brian Anthony Browning, 31, arrived at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne armed to the teeth with an AR-15 rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and vengeance on his mind during Sunday morning’s children’s service on June 22.
But the would-be mass shooter’s plans were dramatically thwarted when a late-arriving parishioner spotted him firing at the building and made a split-second decision that likely saved dozens of lives.
From valedictorian to violence
It’s a shocking fall from grace for a young man who once seemed destined for military greatness. Browning was the valedictorian of Wayne Memorial High School when he graduated in 2012, and was battalion commander of the school’s ROTC. His proud father had even posted photos of his West Point nomination letter from Senator Debbie Stabenow.
But something went terribly wrong after graduation. ‘I was a freshman in JROTC back in 2011 when he was the “commander” of sorts for the program,’ one wrote online. ‘He was fit, confident, honestly seemed like a really well put together guy. Someone to look up to. Then he graduated and life went to hell.’
The Facebook warnings
Exactly four weeks before the shooting, Browning had posted a cryptic message that now seems chillingly prophetic. The image showed a video of CrossPointe’s April 13 service above one by popular YouTuber PewDiePie titled ‘The Biggest Liar Cheapskate!’ ‘Sometimes God will very “subtly” show you the signs,’ he wrote.
But it was his next post that truly revealed the depth of his rage. Two days later he made an even more ominous post that appeared to blame the church for the death of his friend Tyler Piner. ‘You have not only lied to men, but have lied unto the Spirit of the Lord. His blood is on your hands CrossPointe Community Church,’ he wrote, tagging the church.
The post included a photo of Piner, 29, who had died on May 18. Piner, a father-of-two, lived in Bay City, Michigan, at the time of his death, but lived in Wayne at the time the photo was taken. While the exact cause of death remains unclear, he spent time in jail for drug and domestic violence crimes in 2015 and 2018, and suffered from sleep apnea.
Sunday morning terror
The nightmare unfolded at 11:06am on June 22, when multiple 911 calls from CrossPointe Community Church on Sunday at 11:06 a.m. reporting a White male suspect, wearing camouflage clothing and a tactical vest, getting guns out of his car to go into the church.
Children from the church’s vacation Bible school were just finishing their worship songs when chaos erupted. ‘The suspect exited his vehicle wearing a tactical vest, armed with a long gun and handgun,’ Strong said.
That’s when divine intervention – in the form of a Ford F-150 – changed everything.
Hero with a pickup truck
Kelly said a church member arriving late to the service spotted Browning driving recklessly and called out to him as he exited his car wearing a tactical vest and carrying a rifle and a handgun. The church member struck Browning with his pickup truck.
“He is a hero,” Pastor Bobby Kelly declared. “I think that was the Lord leading him to do that. He hit this individual with his car, drove right on the grass because he was shooting at the building at the time. And that certainly helped the team to be able to respond.”
The brave action gave the church’s security team – formed a decade ago in response to violence at other houses of worship – precious seconds to react. “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. “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.”
Arsenal of death
The sheer scale of Browning’s planned attack became horrifyingly clear when police searched his vehicle and home. 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.
But that was just the beginning. Police executing a search warrant at Browning’s home in Romulus, about 5 miles south of Wayne, found additional rifles, several more handguns and a large amount of ammunition.
Livestream captures panic
Heart-stopping footage from the church’s livestream showed the moment terror struck. The video shows the crowd clapping, some people begin to stand, and then shouting can be heard off screen.
Parishioner Dustin Fuoco, who was running the sound system, described the horror: “I was up in the upper level, so just me and a couple of our tech crew up there, and we heard a round of shots, sounded like probably 10, and it sounded like a jackhammer”.
In the video, someone can be heard screaming “Come on, come on!” as terrified families fled, with parents scooping up their children and racing for the exits.
A mother’s heartbreak
Perhaps the most tragic element of this story is that Browning’s mother is a member of the church and the suspect attended two or three services over the course of the last year.
Pastor Kelly revealed he’d actually met with Browning when his mother was baptised. When Browning’s mother was baptized, the pastor said he met with the gunman, who “had some concerns but it wasn’t anything violent. It was really about scripture and when we finished speaking, we were actually in agreement.”
The pastor described Browning’s mother as “pretty distraught” following the shooting.
Mental health crisis
His motivations are unknown, according to police, though officials said he appeared to be suffering from a mental health crisis. Browning had no criminal history.
The only casualty was a security guard who was shot in the leg and is expected to recover. But Police were clear about what could have happened: “We are grateful for the heroic actions of the church’s staff members who undoubtedly saved many lives and prevented a large-scale mass shooting,” Wayne Police Chief Ryan Strong said during a press conference.
A community shaken
Wayne, a city of about 17,000 people located 25 miles west of Detroit, is still reeling from what could have been Michigan’s deadliest church shooting.
In a statement, Pastor Kelly asked for prayers not just for his congregation, but also for Browning’s family: “Please pray for our healing, the strengthening of our faith, and the continued bond of unity brought about through this shared traumatic experience, and for the family of Brian Browning. They are hurting too.”
The FBI and local authorities continue to investigate the shooting, though Police said there was no evidence to suggest the shooting was linked to ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as has been the case in recent attacks across the United States.
For now, a community gives thanks that a deacon’s quick thinking and a security team’s bravery prevented a Sunday morning service from becoming a massacre. But questions remain about how a promising young valedictorian with dreams of West Point ended up dead outside a church, consumed by rage over a friend’s death he somehow blamed on the congregation.
As one former classmate reflected: “Never thought I’d know a potential mass shooter to any capacity let alone someone I held to a very high standard at any time in my life, yet here we are.
