DISTURBING INDIVIDUAL APPROACHES CHURCH OFFICIAL AT MERIDIAN BAPTIST CHURCH IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY

An investigator with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office responded to Meridian Baptist Church yesterday to take a report of a disturbing incident.

The report states youth members saw an unknown man at the youth building behind the church. The man was trying to climb onto the deck of the structure and the moped the suspect rode was near the building.

A church official approached him to ask if he needed help to which the man asked the official to hold his moped. However, the suspect then pushed the moped toward the youth building doors, causing the church member to grab the handlebars and redirect the suspect’s direction of travel.

As the interaction between the unknown male and church official continued, the incident turned very disturbing.

The church official could feel what he believed to be a firearm in an oddly shaped bag attached to the moped. The suspect became irate and claimed to be a CIA agent, a Secret Service agent, and a member of the Seal Team that killed Osama Bin Laden. During this interaction, the church official sent out a text to other church members for assistance.

The official told the suspect he had to return to the youth service. The suspect replied the official was not in a youth service, and the youth were playing basketball which caused great concern because the suspect had to have been watching the youth for an extended time to know their basketball schedule.

The suspect said he came from Michigan and asked where the Georgia state line was. He left the scene on the moped on Highway 68, heading towards Rhea County.

The suspect was described as a Caucasian male in his late 50s, standing 5’ 10”, and weighing 250 pounds. He had scruffy facial hair. According to a church report filed on the incident, the subject stated his name was possibly Robert Coleman.

The incident is under investigation.