Texas police shoot man who disarmed possible church shooter

Police in Amarillo shot an innocent man who helped foil a possible church shooting. Police in Amarillo shot an innocent man who helped foil a possible church shooting. Photo: Google Maps Photo: Google Maps Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close Texas police shoot man who disarmed possible church shooter 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

Police in Amarillo shot an innocent man who helped foil a possible church shooting.

The shooting happened shortly after 9 a.m. Feb. 14 at the Faith City Mission, a faith-based outreach organization. Police said Joshua Len Jones, 35, of Amarillo, barged into a church building at Faith City Mission, pulled out a gun and was holding about 100 congregants and church staff hostage.

In the time between when police were dispatched and when officers arrived, a handful of churchgoers wrestled Jones to the ground. One of the congregants was able to grab Jones' gun.

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Officers entered the building and saw the churchgoer holding the gun and opened fire, according to the Amarillo Police Department. The churchgoer was hospitalized in stable condition.

The victim, who spoke to ABC 7 Amarillo, has since been released and told the station he would do it all over again despite being shot by police.

"There were other people there," Tony Garces said. "I just took the gun away from him. I got shot. I got the bad part. It's life."

Jones was booked into jail on six first-degree felony charges of aggravated kidnapping. He's being held on $1.2 million worth of bonds, according to jail records.

No one else, including Jones, was injured.

The Amarillo shooting happened on the same day 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on a Florida high school, killing 17 people.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.