West Freeway Church of Christ Senior Minister Britt Farmer expressed his gratitude to the state of Texas for allowing his congregation to be armed after a gunman attacked the church during one of its Sunday morning services.

The gunman was quickly killed by a security guard after the attacker fired three rounds from his shotgun. In addition to the security guard, video footage from the church showed at least five parishioners who drew their weapons in response to the gun shots.

The gunman was killed from a single shot from the security guard's firearm. Two church members were killed in the attack.

"First off, I want to say that I am extremely thankful to Lieutenant Governor and the Governor... Governor Patrick and Governor Abbott and their rapid response to this. To the law enforcement agencies that have been here, we couldn’t have asked for more professional, seamless interviews and work with our congregation and our people and the kindness that was shown to them by law enforcement," Farmer said during a press conference Sunday evening.

"We lost two great men today. But it could have been a lot worse and I’m thankful that our government has allowed us the opportunity to protect ourselves," he continued. "We have a congregation here with open hearted people. We help people. We’re here to help people and to have something like this happen destroys my heart. And when I say destroys, it destroys it because there is evil in this world. Today is one sermon I’ll never preach. It will go away. It’s called leaving a legacy. And two men today left a legacy. And the congregation is going to build on that legacy."



