Man who threatened Fort Worth congregation was a member of the church
Man who threatened congregation was member of church
Court documents detail the charges and bond conditions for Roman Collins who, police say, was heavily armed with guns, a large knife and ammo when he showed up and made threats at All Peoples Church Unitarian Universalist.
FORT WORTH, Texas - We're learning more about the man who allegedly made threats against a Fort Worth church after it’s believed he shot a dog on the property hours earlier.
Leaders at the church say he'd been a member, and police documented that he was heavily armed when the alleged threats were made.
Court documents detail the charges and bond conditions for Roman Collins who, police say, was heavily armed with guns, a large knife and ammo when he showed up and made threats at All Peoples Church Unitarian Universalist.
"The man was Roman Collins, who we know. Who lived in the neighborhood and had attended church here for a few months," said church director Dan Sexton.
At Sunday service, the church board president gave details from the police investigation of last Wednesday’s incident, saying Collins initially killed his own dog in the church’s community garden located behind the church and how a teacher and students with the school housed at the church discovered the scene later in the morning.
"We reviewed the security cams, and we heard some shots fired around 3:40 a.m. on early Wednesday morning," Sexton said. "There was an assault rifle found lying near the dog. The Sudberry school teacher and some kids had gone out there. As soon as they saw it, they turned right around. The teacher came in and called police right away."
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At that point, it was not known who did it. But that changed later in the afternoon with an encounter between Collins and church administrator Karl Thibodeaux, who was inside the church alone after everyone at the school had left for the day.
"He goes in there, and there’s Roman. And he’s got a pistol on his hip. He’s got a tactical vest with ammo and stuff in it. And there’s a shotgun lying on the table. Carl just starts chatting with him. ‘Hey, man. What’s going on?’ Roman goes. ‘I had to shoot a dog.’ Carl goes, ‘That’s tough.’ And just engages him, talk to him for a while," Sexton said. "Carl sees something and goes, ‘I’ve got to take this back in the office. I’ll be back in a minute.’ He slips out the ministry door and goes to Bill’s house and calls 911, and police show up very quickly."
The church administrator told police Collins made threats of more carnage, but the church also believes this was not a threat against its progressive values, but rather the actions of a disturbed individual, noting that police are not pursuing this as a hate crime.
Collins remains in jail on felony charges for weapons violations, a terroristic threat and animal cruelty with strict conditions to his $200,000 bond, home confinement with GPS monitoring and a mental evaluation.