A pastor said Monday that the “hand of God” prevented a mass shooting at his Detroit-area church when an armed man was struck by a pickup truck and fatally shot by security staff before he could enter and attack more than 100 people.

On Monday, a day after the thwarted attack, the leader of CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Mich., praised the actions of the security team, which has been in place for more than 10 years. Pastor Bobby Kelly said he had met the gunman three times in the past.

“I can’t say for sure what was in his heart or in his mind because he’s never threatened me in any way,” Kelly told The Associated Press. “This young man was definitely struggling mentally. He thought he was hearing from God. We had some conversations about that.”

Children from the church’s vacation Bible school were leading Sunday’s worship and were finishing a song when the congregation heard gunfire outside. Kelly, who was poised to start his sermon, initially thought the noise was coming from a construction crew.

A member of the security team rushed in and told everyone to get out. A livestream video shows people carrying children or directing them to get down and move away.

Kelly said a church member arriving late had spotted Brian Browning driving recklessly and called out to the gunman as he exited his car wearing a tactical vest and carrying a rifle and a handgun. The church member struck him with his pickup truck.

Browning, 31, began firing as he approached the church, striking one person in the leg. At least two staff members shot him, Wayne police Chief Ryan Strong said.

Toll from Syria church bombing rises to 25

The death toll from a suicide bomb attack on a church in Syria at the weekend has risen to 25, state media said Monday.

The attack Sunday on the Mar Elias Greek Orthodox church during a Divine Liturgy in Dweil’a, near Damascus, was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as Damascus under its de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of minorities.

The Interior Ministry and witnesses said a gunman entered the church and opened fire on the congregation before detonating an explosive vest.

State news agency SANA, citing the Health Ministry, said 63 other people were wounded in the attack. Father Fadi Ghattas told The Associated Press that some 350 people were praying at the church.

The United States, the European Union and governments across the Middle East condemned the attack, decrying it as a terrorist act.

Russian hackers target NATO summit

Pro-Russian hackers launched a series of denial-of-service attacks Monday on several municipalities and organizations linked to a NATO summit this week in the Netherlands, the Dutch government said.

The National Cybersecurity Center said in a statement that many of the attacks were claimed by a pro-Russian hackers’ group known as NoName057(16) “and appear to have a pro-Russian ideological motive.” It did not elaborate.

The cybersecurity center said it was investigating the attacks that flood a site with data in order to knock it offline, and was in contact with “national and international partners.”

Raoul Rozestraten, a spokesman for the municipality in The Hague, the Dutch city hosting the summit Tuesday and Wednesday, said the attacks hit municipalities around the country.

Thai police seize 2.6 tons of meth

Thai authorities seized more than 2 tons of crystal methamphetamine from a tourist boat near a pier in eastern Thailand before the drugs could be smuggled out of the country, officials said Monday.

Eight men were arrested Saturday in Rayong province for allegedly attempting to smuggle the nearly 2.6 tons through the southern border, officials said. They did not elaborate on the intended destination or the drugs’ origin.

If sold abroad, the drugs are estimated to be worth over 3 billion baht ($90.8 million), Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation said.

The drugs were packed in plastic bags disguised as corn flour packages. Each contained about one kilogram. Authorities said they also seized a van and a truck believed to be involved in the drug smuggling.

145 jabbed during French music fest

French officials said Sunday that 145 people across the country, including 13 in Paris, reported that they had been stabbed with needles at an annual nationwide music festival on Saturday. Twelve people were arrested in connection with the stabbings.

“Some victims were taken to the hospital for toxicological tests,” the ministry said. French officials did not provide any details about the people who were arrested or about what substances the syringes may have contained.

While the number of victims was small compared with the millions of people who attended Fête de la Musique events across France, the reports were among a number of alarming episodes in recent years in which people have reported being injected without their knowledge or consent in crowded spaces like clubs or bars.

Last victim found from capsized boat in Calif.

The body of the last person missing from a boat that capsized on Lake Tahoe in California during a sudden and powerful weekend thunderstorm was found Monday, bringing the death toll to eight.

Ten people were on board the 27-foot gold Chris-Craft vessel when it flipped Saturday afternoon near D.L. Bliss State Park on the lake’s southwest edge as the storm whipped up high waves, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

Two people were rescued immediately and taken to a hospital in unknown condition. Six bodies were recovered later Saturday and a seventh body was found Sunday evening, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. Divers searched a section of Lake Tahoe and found the last body Monday afternoon.

Justices to hear La. dreadlock dispute

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear the appeal of a former Louisiana prison inmate whose dreadlocks were cut off by prison guards allegedly in violation of his religious beliefs.

The justices will review an appellate ruling that held that the former inmate, Damon Landor, could not sue prison officials for money damages under a federal law aimed at protecting prisoners’ religious rights.

Landor, an adherent of the Rastafari religion, even carried a copy of a ruling by the appeals court in another inmate’s case holding that cutting religious prisoners’ dreadlocks violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

Landor hadn’t cut his hair in nearly two decades when he entered Louisiana’s prison system in 2020 on a five-month sentence. At his first two stops, officials respected his beliefs. But things changed at the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center in Cottonport.

A prison guard took the copy of the ruling Landor carried and tossed it in the trash, according to court records. Then the warden ordered guards to cut his dreadlocks. While two guards restrained him, a third shaved his head to the scalp, the records show.

Mick Ralphs, classic rocker, dies at 81

Mick Ralphs, singer, songwriter, guitarist and founding member of the classic British rock bands Bad Company and Mott the Hoople, has died.

A statement posted to the band’s official website Monday announced Ralphs’ death at age 81. Ralphs had a stroke days after what would be his final performance with Bad Company at London’s O2 Arena in 2016, and had been bedridden ever since, the statement said. No further details on the circumstances of his death were provided.

Ralphs is set to become a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Bad Company in November.

Ralphs wrote 1970’s “Ready for Love” for Mott the Hoople, later revamped for Bad Company’s 1974 debut album, which also included the Ralphs-penned hit “Can’t Get Enough.” He co-wrote Bad Company’s 1975 “Feel Like Makin’ Love” with singer Paul Rodgers.

— From news services