Fort Worth chief urges officers to wear uniforms to faith services after church shooting
The shooting at a White Settlement church last Sunday that left two men dead has rocked communities of faith, leaving many to wonder how congregants can feel safe again in their places of worship.
Fort Worth Police Chief Ed Kraus is asking officers who attend faith services to do what they can to add a sense of security by wearing their uniforms.
Kraus took to Twitter late Friday to implore his officers belonging to a religion to wear their uniforms to service, ideally after they first ask their faith leaders if it’s OK. The simple act, suggested by Assistant Chief Charles Ramirez, will make congregants feel safer and serve as a deterrent to those who intend harm, Kraus said in a series of tweets.
A church member who was part of a volunteer security team fired back at the gunman inside White Settlement’s West Freeway Church on Dec. 29, killing him. The shooting came a day after five Jewish people were stabbed during a Hanukkah celebration in Monsey, New York.
Kraus said on Twitter that recent attacks on people of faith led to the idea for officers to come to services in uniform.
“In the wake of the local attack on the West Freeway Church of Christ last Sunday, as well as the continuing attacks on Jewish communities and church services nationally,” he said, “I am authorizing and encouraging our officers who attend worship services to do so in full uniform.”
He said officers who attend services outside of Fort Worth should wear their uniforms, too, if their faith leaders are OK with it. “Our community,” he said, “is not defined by our City Limit signs.”
Kraus hopes worshipers scared by recent events would be comforted to see a uniformed officer in their faith service.
The West Freeway Church shooting resulted in the death of two church members, Anton “Tony” Wallace, 64, and Richard White, 67. Wallace was a deacon at the church who lived in Fort Worth and worked as a nurse at the Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hemodialysis Unit. White was a member of the church security team who lived in River Oaks and worked at Tank Heads Inc.
Jack Wilson, the Granbury man who shot and killed the gunman, said on Facebook he didn’t want to let evil win. He’s running for the spot of Hood County commissioner.
Church members mourned Wallace and White at a candlelight vigil Monday night led by minister Britt Farmer, who told those in attendance, “We lost some great men.”
This story was originally published January 4, 2020 at 1:14 PM.