Minister's Security Team Stops Church Disruption in Lanham, Maryland
Bishop Charles Cato kept preaching as the minister's security team escorted an intruder off the stage. The suspect was arrested hours later after a carjacking and crash.
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What Happened
On Sunday, April 19, 2026, Bishop Charles Cato was in the middle of his sermon at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Lanham, Maryland, when 32-year-old Akmed Koroma walked toward the altar from behind him. Cato did not see him coming.
“It was kind of all of a sudden I was just up preaching,” Cato told reporters. “He came behind me and put his arm on my shoulder, just leaned over, saying ‘amen, amen.’”
The minister’s security team moved immediately. They stepped in, removed Koroma from the stage, and walked him out of the sanctuary. Cato kept preaching. The service continued. No one in the congregation was injured.
“At that point, our minister’s security just ushered him off the stage, and I just kept preaching,” Cato said.
The story did not end at the church doors. Shortly after Koroma was escorted out, a man sitting in his mother’s car nearby preparing to leave for church watched a stranger open the driver’s door, get in, and drive off with him still inside. The victim asked Koroma where they were going. Koroma did not answer. Fearing for his life, the man jumped from the moving vehicle and landed hard on the pavement with cuts and bruises. Koroma kept driving and struck another vehicle at the intersection of Whitfield Chapel Road and Annapolis Road before being arrested.
Court records show Koroma is a 32-year-old Air Force veteran who has been arrested several times this year. At his bond review hearing, the judge stated on the record that he suspects Koroma may be dealing with mental health issues. He was ordered held without bond and is scheduled to return to court on May 20.
Councilmember Wanika Fisher was in the congregation that morning. “It was a frightening situation. People were concerned about what might happen. Incidents like this raise concerns about safety, especially in places of worship,” she said.
Cato’s own assessment was calmer. “To be truthful, I wasn’t frightened because I never got a good look at the person. At one time I thought it may have been someone I knew. It all happened quickly, and I stayed focused on the message.”
Layered Security and the Red Zone at the Stage
Church security is not one wall. It is layers, like an onion. The first layer is the parking lot. The second is the lobby and the doors. The third is the sanctuary itself. Your goal is to catch the problem at the outermost layer and never let it reach the next one. Most threats that make it all the way to the sanctuary slipped past the first two layers, which means by the time you see them inside, you are already on your last line of defense.
That last line is the stage. And the stage is a red zone.
Imagine a force field around the platform. Nothing crosses it except authorized people. No one wandering up to pray during the sermon. No one walking up to hand the pastor a note. No one coming up for a hug. No good ever comes from an unauthorized person on the platform, and every year in this country a pastor is attacked at the pulpit with a firearm or a knife. The red zone is not a suggestion. It is a post.
Your job as a sanctuary team member is to make sure nothing breaches that force field. That does not mean tackling anyone. The Mt. Calvary team got this exactly right. They walked up, put hands on him calmly, and escorted him off. That is the standard response. A person who steps toward the stage with no clear intent gets quietly redirected. You guide them away. You tell them you will talk to them outside. You do not make a scene. Most of the time, the person is confused, emotional, or mentally unwell, not violent, and a calm escort resolves the whole thing in under a minute. If the person resists, escalates, or shows a weapon, the response changes. But the default posture is calm, low, and professional.
You also need to work out a code word with your pastor. He is the one facing the congregation. He can see every face in every pew. You in the front row or off to the side cannot see what he can see. If he spots someone acting suspicious, fidgeting, reaching, or moving in a way that does not feel right, he needs a way to alert you without breaking the sermon. A clean example: “Keith, can you grab me a glass of water?” To the congregation it sounds like the pastor is thirsty. To you it means the pastor has seen something and wants you to check it out. He can even point in the direction of the problem as part of the line, and no one in the pews will read it as anything other than a pastor gesturing while he talks. You walk over to that area, you scan, and you pick up what he saw.
Ideally you have two or three trained members positioned to cover the platform and its approaches. Realistically, most churches will not have that. I work at a 1,400-seat congregation and we have enough people for one person on the stage post. One is enough if that one person is in the right place, alert, and trained to respond calmly. What matters is that someone, always, owns the red zone.
The Minister’s Security Detail
Most churches do not have one. Mt. Calvary did, and on Sunday morning it saved the congregation from watching their pastor get attacked in the middle of a sermon. A minister’s security detail is a small, dedicated team inside your larger safety team whose specific job during the service is the pastor. Not the parking lot, not the doors, not the children’s wing. The pastor.
This is not celebrity protection. It is recognition that the senior pastor is the most likely target in any targeted attack on a congregation. He is the public figure. He is the one whose name is on the sign. He is the one who has offended someone from the pulpit, counseled a difficult marriage situation, disciplined a member, or preached against a sin that someone out there is not ready to give up. He is also the one the congregation will look to in a moment of chaos, which means he cannot be the one running for cover.
The size of the detail depends on the size of your team. If you have the numbers, two or three trained members covering the pastor and the approaches to him is ideal. If you have one, that one person owns the post. They do not need to be armed to be effective. What they need is training, an assigned position, and the instinct to move before the moment becomes a crisis. Mt. Calvary’s team did exactly that. No tackle, no drawn weapon, no commotion. They walked him off the stage.
Biblical Perspective
Mt. Calvary’s response is a living picture of one of the most overlooked models in the Old Testament.
“And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.” — Nehemiah 4:9
Nehemiah is rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He knows enemies are watching, making plans, preparing to attack. His response is not one thing. It is two things, joined together. They prayed. They set a guard. Day and night. Not prayer instead of the guard. Not the guard instead of prayer. Both. The church that understands this verse understands why the security team’s work is not a contradiction of the pastor’s preaching. They are two sides of the same obedience.
Cato prayed. His team watched. When the threat came, the team moved, and the preaching continued. That is Nehemiah 4:9 in a sanctuary.
The other passage that maps to this Sunday is Paul’s charge to the Ephesian elders.
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert.” — Acts 20:28-31
Paul is not talking to a security team. He is talking to pastors and elders. And yet the command he gives them is the command the Mt. Calvary security team carried out on Sunday morning. Pay careful attention. Be alert. Wolves will come. Some from outside. Some from inside. The word of God assumes threat. It assumes the need for watchful eyes. It assumes the overseer’s job is both spiritual and practical. Paul would not have been confused by the sight of a church security team.
One more thing needs to be said, and it is where this incident gets harder. Akmed Koroma is a broken man. He is a veteran. A judge on the record has said he may be dealing with mental health issues. Cato himself, the man Koroma walked up behind, said he hopes Koroma gets help. The church’s job in that moment was to remove him from the sanctuary to protect the congregation. That is the guard at the wall. But the church’s job going forward includes praying for him. Visiting him if appropriate. Asking how his family is doing. That is the other half of Nehemiah 4:9. We set a guard, and we prayed.
Jesus had compassion on the crowds because they were harassed and helpless. Koroma is harassed and helpless. Removing him from the stage and loving him are not opposites. A church that only removes people is a fortress. A church that only welcomes people is a target. A church that does both is walking in the pattern Scripture gave us.
Final Assessment
What happened at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church on Sunday, April 19, 2026, is one of the clearest examples of a trained church security team doing its job correctly that you will see this year. A man walked up behind the pastor during the sermon. The team moved. He was removed. The service continued. No one was injured inside the building. The pastor did not break stride.
That does not happen by accident. It happens because a pastor, at some point, decided the platform needed to be covered. It happens because team members showed up for training. It happens because roles were assigned in advance and everyone knew what to do. It happens because the congregation trusts the team enough to stay seated when something goes wrong.
The lesson for your church is not that you need to buy more equipment or hire armed professionals. The lesson is that a small group of dedicated people, trained and positioned, can stop a disruption from becoming a tragedy. Most churches in this country do not have a minister’s security detail. They should. Not because every Sunday is a threat, but because the one Sunday that is a threat will come without warning, from behind the pastor, while he is preaching, and you will have seconds to respond.
Cato’s final word in the interview is one worth holding on to. “You can’t lock the enemy out, because that’s the purpose of the church — to invite people in.” That is the tension every safety team lives in. We invite. We watch. We welcome. We protect. Both, together, day and night, the way Nehemiah did it.
Call to Action
If you have a safety team, read this with them. If you do not have a safety team, this incident is the reason you need one. Leave a comment below and tell me what your church is doing to cover the platform during the sermon. Share this article with your pastor and your team leader. The next incident is coming somewhere. Your preparation is what decides how it ends.
The obvious glaring question is how did he get close enough to make physical contact with the Pastor?
Hi Kevin
I live in Rossville GA (just south of Chattanooga TN). I wish you could come to the Chattanooga area for your training sessions. Our team and many others would benefit greatly.
God bless brother
John Culbertson
12stringcowboy@gmail.com
815-549-6701