Lamor Miller-Whitehead Brooklyn bishop and wife robbed at gunpoint in $400K jewelry heist while during live streamed sermon.
Video has revealed the moment a bishop performing a church service in Brooklyn being cut short as three masked gunmen entered the religious establishment and began to demand patrons hand over their jewelry in a brazen heist.
Bishop Lamor Miller-Whitehead was in the middle of delivering his sermon at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries church in Canarsie when three gunmen burst in Sunday morning, circa 11:15 a.m., the NYPD said.
The armed assailants ‘displayed firearms and demanded property’ from the 44-year-old bishop and his wife, 38, police said.
In viral video, Whitehead can be heard saying ‘alright, alright,’ before dropping to the ground on his hands and knees.
A masked suspect can later be seen approaching the bishop and holding what appears to be a firearm pointed at his back, before appearing to make away with his jewelry.
The assailants were able to take off with $400,000 worth of jewelry, with the principal thefts coming from the bishop and his wife, police said.
‘When I see them come into the sanctuary with their guns, I told everybody to get out, everybody just get out,’ Whitehead said in a video posted to Instagram following the incident. ‘I didn’t know if they wanted to shoot the church up or if they were just coming for a robbery.’
In the end, he said he was thankful that it was the latter, but said ‘they took all of my wife’s jewelry and took all of my jewelry,’ including his wedding band.
The robbers whose identity were not known following the heist fled the church by foot before entering a white Mercedes Benz. They were last seen traveling eastbound on Avenue D, police said. The robbers were still at large with a police investigation ongoing.
Whitehead previously made headlines when he pulled up in a Rolls Royce to negotiate the surrender of Andrew Abdullah, 25, in the fatal shooting of Goldman Sachs employee Daniel Enriquez. However, the police still nabbed Abdullah at the Legal Aid Society offices in Manhattan.
The Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches describe Whitehead as a ‘dynamic preacher, motivational speaker, social activist, community leader,’ and an ‘entrepreneur.’ The site also claims that Bishop Whitehead’s preaching and teachings ‘focuses on empowering believers spiritually, developing them educationally, exposing them culturally, activating them politically and strengthening them economically.”
Whitehead who upon graduating from college attended New York Theological Seminary and completed his studies with a certificate in Ministry in Human Services from the Theological Institution of Rising Hope Inc.
Whitehead according to the church website is a licensed New York State Chaplain and a certified marriage & funeral officiant. With the support of 43 people, he founded the Leaders of Tomorrow Ministry in Brooklyn, NYC, in 2013.
Pastor Whitehead who is considered one of the most renowned preachers in Brooklyn is thought to have an estimated net worth of at least $1.5million.
