Wayne church deacon who stopped would-be mass shooter gifted new truck

Deacon who stopped would-be mass shooter awarded new truck

Richard Pryor, a deacon at a Wayne church and the man who prevented a mass shooting several Sundays ago was presented with a new pickup truck for his life-saving efforts.

WAYNE, Mich. (FOX 2) - Weeks since the community of Wayne averted tragedy when a 31-year-old arrived with a loaded weapon, locals are still thanking the quick actions of a member of the church.

Richard Pryor stopped Brian Browning when he rammed him with his truck.

Big picture view:

The windows on the CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne are still boarded up after a near mass tragedy almost struck the faith center several Sundays ago.

But with only one would-be mass shooter dead, many in the community consider themselves thankful the violence wasn't worse. That includes Richard Pryor, the deacon who ran over Brian Browning, who was carrying an AR-15 with the intention to kill those at the church.

On Thursday, he was gifted a new Ford F-150 pickup truck for his heroism - a title he rejects, saying he just acted.

"There was a lot of hurt and a lot of lives were affected by this," he said. "Just grateful for the lord’s protection and grateful that everything went the way that it did. Grateful that Ford and everyone wanted to give me a truck in its replacement. Thank you"

Richard Pryor

Local perspective:

Matthew Demmer of the dealership Jack Demmer Ford sees it as a near-miss that would have "reshaped Wayne."

"Wayne is a small community, it’s six miles. But it’s a strong, it's a mighty, it's a tight-knit community," he said. "For what he did, we should all be grateful because it could’ve been a heck of a lot worse."

FOX 2 was there when Pryor opened the door to his new pickup truck - a vehicle he plans to drive to work the next day.