Pastor fights off Thanksgiving would-be burglar with jiu-jitsu training

When a would-be burglar broke in to a California church on Thanksgiving day, he encountered an unexpected obstacle: A pastor, trained in martial arts and determined to defend his house of worship.

Pastor Nick Neves came to First Family Church in Antioch early on Thursday morning after an alarm went off, he told CNN.

When he arrived, he discovered “a smashed window and a door propped open.” A man had used an axe to break a church window and access the building, the Antioch Police Department said in a Facebook post.

“As I was going into the door, the perpetrator came out with a handful of our goods, and I stopped him, and I told him he was essentially under citizen’s arrest, that the police would be there, and he needs to stop and wait for them,” Neves, who has been involved with the church since 2005, told CNN.

“And he wasn’t having that,” the pastor said. “So he tried to run, and I restrained him, and he began to fight with me. And so we tussled for quite a while before the cops were able to get there.”

Neves told CNN he has practiced martial arts, particularly Brazilian jiu-jitsu, since he was in high school. But he never expected he would have to use his skills in the real world.

“It was never my goal to hurt the man or to do him harm,” he said. “I was just hoping to keep him from getting away so that justice could be done and our church could be protected.”

During the unexpected wrestling match, Neves said he focused on restraining the man and making sure he couldn’t hurt him.

The pastor was able to restrain the attempted burglar until the police arrived and arrested him.

The Antioch Police Department did not name the suspect but told CNN he was still in custody Friday and the department will file burglary, robbery and battery charges related to the break-in.

Neves said that the suspect had likely cost the church a few thousand dollars in damages.

“I don’t have hatred towards him,” he said. “Hopefully, he’ll have to sit and think about this, and it’ll change his heart and mind, and he’ll think twice the next time he’s tempted to go out and rob from others.”

Neves said the break-in seemed to be “opportunistic” and that the suspect had tried to break open a vending machine but was unable to. Instead, he had grabbed “haphazard” items like tools and some food left over from the church’s Saturday free food distributions.

“If he came to church on Sunday, I’d be happy to share the gospel with him,” Neves said of the suspect.