Witness: Montco church incident turned deadly fast

Gordon Hower was attending a Sunday church service with his wife when he saw a fellow congregant - displaying a handgun on his belt holster - reach for his weapon while speaking with another worshipper.

He turned to his wife and told her, "Get everybody out of here," he testified Thursday.

Hower said Mark Storms was showing his gun to Robert Braxton III, who appeared agitated at the service last month at the Keystone Fellowship Church in Montgomery Township, Montgomery County. Storms asked Braxton to step outside.

Braxton refused, Hower said. Upon seeing the gun, Braxton punched Storms.

Hower said he saw Storms step back and pull his gun out of its holster.

"I started coming over the chairs, yelling, 'No! Down!' " Hower said.

It was too late.

Storms fired twice, police said, killing Braxton.

Hower recalled the encounter - one he said turned deadly in just 45 seconds - at a hearing Thursday, where Magisterial District Judge Andrea Hudak Duffy ordered Storms held for trial on charges of voluntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment.

The charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 to 20 years.

At Thursday's preliminary hearing prosecutors laid out what they said happened the morning of the shooting as nearly 300 people worshipped at the church on Stump Road.

Storms, 46, of Lansdale, is a congregant. So was Braxton, 27, of North Wales.

Montgomery County Detective Paul Bradbury testified that Braxton died of two gunshot wounds. Storms told Bradbury in an interview the day of the shooting that he had fired his handgun in self-defense because he believed Braxton was going to harm him.

Braxton became visibly agitated at church that morning when another member told him he was sitting in an already occupied seat, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

Hower, recalling the incident, testified Thursday that the ushers had handled the situation and had decided to leave Braxton alone.

After that decision, Storms, who was not an usher, approached the man and leaned over the seat in front of him, Hower said.

"Please leave with me now, no trouble," he recalled Storms saying.

As Braxton refused, Hower said, Storms lifted his shirt with one hand and reached for his handgun with the other, placing his right index finger over the trigger.

Braxton punched Storms, Hower said, and Storms remained upright but stepped back.

The two men stood face to face, not speaking, Hower said, when he saw Storms pointing his gun. There were other church members, including children and a woman in a wheelchair, in the direction that Storms fired the gun, Hower said.

Bradbury, the detective, testified that Storms later said he had felt threatened, and that he "had no intentions to kill or hurt this gentleman."

Storms's attorney, Vincent DiFabio said afterward that he plans to pursue self-defense as justification for the shooting at trial.

Several other witness accounts contradict the version of events presented Thursday, DiFabio said. He said Storms was attacked more than once by Braxton, and had reason to fear for his safety. Storms "has expressed remorse," his attorney said.

DiFabio asked Thursday for a reduction of the $250,000 bail for Storms, who has been held since his arrest last month. He said Storms poses no flight risk and would like to return to his wife, son, and part-time job.

"The reason a 27-year-old boy is dead is because the defendant took a gun into a church," said Assistant District Attorney Laura Adshead, arguing against the request.

The judge agreed. And the room erupted into applause from Braxton's friends and family members before officers escorted Storms back to county jail.

More than two dozen of Braxton's friends and family members attended the hearing, which was relocated from the local district court to the more spacious Montgomery County Township Building. Many of Braxton's friends wore T-shirts with his photo printed on the front. His parents sat crying in the front row.

"There's no justification at all in this," his father, Robert Braxton Jr., said after the court hearing. "This type of cruelty . . . it can't happen. Especially at a church."

lmccrystal@phillynews.com

610-313-8116 @Lmccrystal