On Wednesday (Nov. 15), Hans Schmidt, a 26-year-old outreach director at Victory Chapel First Phoenix, was shot in the head while he was street preaching in Glendale, Arizona.
Schmidt, who is a military veteran, a husband, and a father of two young children, was on the corner of 51st Avenue and Peoria around 6 p.m. Wednesday evening and was preaching through a megaphone.
According to Paul Sanchez, a nearby worker who has witnessed the outreach director street preach many times, there was a car filled with people who were screaming at Schmidt to “get off the street.”
“There was a lot of everything, really, hateful comments, people yelling at him, ‘Get off the street,’ all sorts of mean things,” Sanchez told a local news outlet.
“My husband was shot in the head yesterday while street preaching on the corner of 51st Ave and Peoria,” Schmidt’s wife Zulya shared on Facebook one day after the attack took place.
“If anyone has any info please contact 911,” Zulya urged. “Thank you for your prayers. Believing God has the final say. I love you so much babe.”
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Victory Chapel First Phoenix’s website says that Schmidt is “in critical condition and in desperate need of a miracle.”
More details of Schmidt’s condition were provided in a church update on Thursday. “Hans was taken to the ER where they discovered he had been shot after conducting a CT scan,” the update said. “He began seizing and was intubated. There has been some movement; however, physician’s [sic] are uncertain how much is voluntary and began draining fluid from his brain. He remains in critical condition, please continue praying.”
On Friday (Nov. 17), Zulya posted a picture of her husband with the caption, “I love you my handsome cowboy. Keep fighting papi. We need you!!”
, Hans Schmidt, a 26-year-old outreach director at Victory Chapel First Phoenix, was shot in the head while he was street preaching in Glendale, Arizona.){kind=link}