An American preacher who was taken hostage by armed men while preaching a sermon in a South African township last week has been rescued in a fierce gun battle with his kidnappers, police said Wednesday.
Josh Sullivan, 45, was kidnapped last Thursday during an evening service in Motherwell, a township in Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, the Fellowship Baptist Church said.
The South African Police Service said officers launched a rescue operation after receiving intelligence the pastor was being held by his abductors at a house in KwaMagxaki, another township in the city.
A rescue team was sent to the location, a police statement said, “leading to a high-intensity shootout” that left “three unidentified suspects” dead.
“As officers approached the house, they observed a vehicle on the premises. The suspects inside the vehicle upon seeing law enforcement allegedly attempted to flee and opened fire on the team,” the statement read.
It added that Sullivan, whom the Associated Press reported is from the US state of Tennessee, was found inside the vehicle “miraculously unharmed” and “is currently in an excellent condition.”
Tom Hatley, whom Sullivan had said on his website he was training under, also announced the rescue. “Josh has been released,” Hatley wrote in a Facebook post along with a picture of Sullivan and his family. “I just got ‘the go ahead to let it be known,’” he added while urging for privacy from the public.
“Also, PLEASE respect The Sullivans privacy and their parents. A lot of folks love The Sullivans and they love you back, but give them some time,” he said in another post.
Kidnappings are at a record high in South Africa with an average of 51 abductions every day, authorities said last year. The country also grapples with deadly mass shootings and a murder rate that is among the highest in the world.
Sullivan’s abduction comes two months after renowned Islamic cleric Muhsin Hendricks was shot dead by armed men in Bethelsdorp, also in the Eastern Cape province.
Sullivan, who describes himself as “a church planting missionary,” arrived in South Africa in 2018 with plans to “finish language school … and plant a church to the Xhosa speaking people,” he said on his website.
