DETROIT — A retired police officer-turned-pastor shot and wounded a man who broke into his Detroit church, police said Monday.

Lawrence Adams went to Westside Bible Church on Sunday evening and found the intruder inside the building, said Detroit police Sgt. Eren Stephens. The man began swinging an object at the retired police lieutenant, who pulled out a handgun and shot him in the abdomen, he said.

"The pastor identified himself as a retired policeman. The guy kept swinging," Adams' wife, Iris, told The Associated Press Monday. The pastor, who was not injured, was licensed to carry the handgun, police said.

Police have not released the alleged intruder's name but said he was being treated at an area hospital. His injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

Iris Adams said the church's security company called her at home Sunday after a burglar alarm at the building was triggered. She telephoned her husband, who went to the church with his sister, she said. The nondenominational church has had burglars in the past.

"Normally, they would break out one of our windows," Iris Adams said. "Our alarm has always gone off."

Lawrence Adams retired in 2006 after 25 years with the police department and was promoted to senior pastor at the church, where the couple had been members for several years, in 2007, his wife said.

AP Report

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Suspects were allegedly on robbery spree.

Five men were arrested today on suspicion of shooting a clergyman outside his parish in Home Gardens, allegedly targeting the victim during a robbery spree in Los Angeles and Riverside counties.

Willis Bagley, 38, of Perris; Jacob Buschow, 19, of Pomona; Anthony Coleman, 21, of Chino; Timothy Jacqueman, 18, of Pomona; and Andrew Swindle, 23, of Pomona, are accused of shooting Bishop Antonio Garduno, 51, outside Our Lady of Tepeyac at 13462 Magnolia Ave. around 10 p.m. Tuesday.

According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the victim went into the church courtyard to investigate a suspicious noise and was confronted by the suspects, one of whom opened fire.

Garduno managed to get back into the church and dial 911. He remains in stable condition at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley, sheriff’s officials said.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez, the suspects on Tuesday afternoon began what would become a 10-hour crime spree, starting at a House of Pancakes in the 18000 block of Gale Avenue in Industry.

After robbing the restaurant around 2:30 p.m., the men proceeded to a Denny’s eatery at 1425 Nogales St. in nearby Rowland Heights, where they committed another robbery, Gutierrez said.

He said the suspects held up a Denny’s at 3012 Temple Ave. in Pomona at 3:15 p.m.

“This was a very extensive, large-scale crime spree,” Gutierrez said.

He said investigators have not been able to account for the men’s whereabouts during the roughly six and a half hours between the robbery in Pomona and the shooting outside the church in Home Gardens.

“It’s purely speculative, but they could have gone to another restaurant, and it was too busy, so they went by the church,” the sergeant said.

He said the suspects may have intended to rob the bishop.

After the shooting, the men went to a Denny’s restaurant in the 1300 block of Hamner Avenue in Norco, where Bagley allegedly walked inside the restaurant with a handgun in his waistband and demanded money.

After leaving with an undisclosed amount of cash, the suspects allegedly robbed another Denny’s at 2379 Compton Ave. in Corona, authorities said.

A Corona police sergeant heard the report and spotted the suspects’ vehicle, an older green sedan, in the area, according to Corona police Sgt. Jon Stofila. He said the sergeant tailed the vehicle several miles to the Pomona (60) Freeway and Milliken Avenue in Ontario, where the suspects were pulled over.

Jacqueman, who was driving, exited the car, but as he was being detained, “Coleman … jumped behind the wheel and fled” with the other men, said Stofila.

Corona police pursued the suspects into Rancho Cucamonga, where California Highway Patrol officers took over the chase, according to Stofila.

He said Coleman collided with another vehicle, and the pursuit came to end, with the remaining suspects surrendering without incident.

Several handguns and long rifles were recovered from the vehicle, authorities said.

According to Gutierrez, the suspects were expected to be booked into Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on suspicion of attempted murder, armed robbery, weapons and parole violations.

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