The thief broke into a church on Thanksgiving Day in California, but was stopped by the priest who knew martial arts.
A thief with an ax was surprised during an attempted robbery at a church in California, United States, on Thanksgiving Day.
According to local authorities, cited by The Independent, an alarm was triggered in a church in Antioquia, during the early hours of the morning, and Father Nick Neves, 46, went to the place where he encountered the thief and demanded that he stop.
“I yelled for him to stop and that the police were on the way. He ran, but I grabbed him and we ended up fighting in the church parking lot,” the priest revealed to NBC News.
What the thief didn’t expect was that Nick Neves had experience in mixed martial arts with some training in jiu jitsu and kickboxing – which helped him control the suspect without hurting him.
“I managed to pin him to the ground and he got up and tried to run away several times, but basically I was just trying to tire him out because I knew I could outlast him,” the priest said.
The dispute lasted about 15 minutes before the suspect gave up and police arrived at the scene to take him into custody.
According to authorities, the thief had an ax with him, which he used to break a window of the church and gain entry.
“When the thief saw that his wicked deeds had been discovered, he decided to fight with the priest rather than repent,” police said.
“If he had come a few days earlier, he would have been blessed, had some food and been taken care of. But he decided instead to break windows and desecrate property,” the priest said.
The arrest was posted on the Antioquia Police Facebook page.
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