Missouri teen says pastor pointed gun at him after confrontation at church



KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Conflict is brewing at a Missouri church where a local pastor said a 17-year-old boy visited his church and allegedly made "terroristic threats against his congregation." That teen said then pastor threatened his life with a gun.

"I never disrespected him nor was I disruptive when I was at that church," Quinton Graham said.

"My son was not disrespectful at any time, and he was not refusing to leave that church," his mom Jovanna Graham said.

"The things that he said - I have never in my ministry heard anyone defame God, defame the ministry and defame the church like he did," Pastor Frank Ross of the Apostolic Revival Church said.

Graham said last Thursday he visited Apostolic Revival Church with his mom and younger sisters for "Teen Night."

"Yeah, I was having a good time in the beginning," Quinton said.

However, while Ross was preaching, Graham admits he made a comment that set off a firestorm at the small church that's been around for 29 years.

"All I did is say, 'We are sheep and not goats,' and that hurt him, I guess. I think as a preacher he should have handled it differently," Quinton said. "Just by me saying we are sheep and not goats made him react the way he did."

The teenager's remark comes from a scripture in the Bible.

However, Ross has a different account.

"He was laughing. He was jeering. He was openly talking to his sister. He spoke out loud when I asked him to be quiet," Ross said.

Ross said when Quinton refused to be silent, he asked several of his ushers to remove the teen from the church. Quinton said he tried to walk out on his own, but then he said at least 10 men and teenagers grabbed him.

"They grabbed me, grabbed my arm, grabbed my shirt. When one of those grown men twisted my arm, I swung on him, and things really got crazy," Quinton said.

When the scuffle spilled outside and into the church's parking lot, Quinton said the 36-year-old pastor pointed a gun at his forehead and threatened to shoot him."None of our men assailed him, but this young man did assault our ushers. He hit a male usher three times, one time in the face full on and two times in the head," Ross said.

"Yes, he threatened my life. He said, 'I will kill you,' and I said, 'Do it.' And after that, that's when I just really started going off," Quinton said.

"He was belligerent. He was very disruptive. He threatened the church, and everybody in it," Ross said.

And when asked if Ross pulled a gun on the teen?

"I will not comment to that. I will say we did try to deescalate the situation, and it got out of control to the point we were uncomfortable. If there's anything I regret is that I could not help this young man," Ross said.

"I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong. Never would I ever think a pastor would point a gun at my son's head. I want some justice. I want something done," Jovanna Graham said.

Both sides have filed police reports.

"We really didn't want to file a police report, but we did so just to see how far Ms. Graham is willing to take this," Ross said.