Off-duty officer stops man headed to shoot up church

By Associated Press

SEGUIN, Texas — A Southeast Texas police chief says the handgun a man was carrying while on his way to a church to fulfill a "prophecy" was stolen days earlier from a home.

Vidor police Chief Rod Carroll said Monday that it's not clear if 33-year-old Tony Dwayne Albert II was involved in the theft of the gun or obtained it later.

Carroll says Albert, who was found with the gun, extra ammunition and a face shield, had apparently threatened a Baptist church in Vidor, which is near the border with Louisiana.

Albert was stopped Sunday by an off-duty policeman in the San Antonio suburb of Seguin, which is 250 miles from Vidor. It's not clear what brought Albert to the San Antonio area.

Carroll says family members have told investigators that Albert has a history of mental illness.

A waitress in suburban San Antonio says an armed man who said he was on his way to a church to fulfill "a prophecy" when he was arrested had asked her for directions to a church.

Brianna Jimenez tells KSAT that 33-year-old Tony Dwayne Albert II went to the restroom in Las Mañanitas Mexican Restaurant in Sequin on Sunday, then came out and asked for the nearest Baptist church.

Jimenez says he was provided directions and as he left, she saw him gripping a weapon. She says an employee locked the door after he left and her mother called police, who arrested Albert after finding him with a loaded handgun, extra ammunition and a face shield.

Online records show he's jailed on weapons and drug complaints, but do not list an attorney for him.