Robert Cook, pastor at St. James Lutheran Church
The wife of a pastor at a Northeast Philadelphia church shot a man as he tried to rob the couple and their 12-year-old son late Thursday night.
The incident unfolded shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday on the 1000 block of Pratt Street in the Northwood section of the Frankford neighborhood, when an armed assailant demanded that the couple get on the ground and tried to rob them, according to the pastor and police radio reports.
Robert Cook, pastor at the nearby St. James Lutheran Church, said the family was returning from a concert at another church in Bucks County when the robber demanded his wallet.
"I turned around and there was a shotgun in my face," he said, adding that he initially tried to wrestle the gun away from the suspect.
The attacker then hit the 48-year-old pastor in the back of the head with the firearm.
He then heard his wife, Stephanie, telling the attacker to drop his gun, Cook said. His son was standing still, afraid to move.
"I was afraid he was going to kill my husband and son," Stephanie Cook, 38, said. She didn't shoot at first because the attacker was too close to the two.
"I was hoping he would drop the gun," she said. When her husband yelled to shoot, she pulled the trigger, aiming at the robber's waist.
"I didn't want him to die as crazy as that sounds," she said. "I just wanted him to drop the gun."
She got off one round, striking the assailant in the leg, before the gun jammed. The robber turned and ran away limping.
Her husband took her gun, cleared the jam and followed after the suspect as Stephanie Cook called 911.
The man fled, with Robert Cook, who wanted to get his wallet and make sure the attacker had dropped his gun, behind.
The suspect, who had dropped his firearm near the church, yelled as if the pastor had tried to rob and shoot him, prompting neighbors to also call 911.
"I just wanted my wallet back," he said. "No one wants to go to the DMV if you don't have to."
The assailant tried to get in passing cars, ultimately jumping on the running board of an SUV. He was apprehended nearby a few minutes later.
Robert Cook said he and his wife both have permits for firearms.
"We both have concealed carry permits because we live in a crazy world and people put shotguns in your face," the pastor said.
The incident remains under investigation.
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