The hoax threat was made while over 5,000 people had been partaking in a Christmas Eve candlelight service, said reports. A 33-year-old man is facing charges with police saying he threatened to release Sarin gas during celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s Christmas Eve megachurch service.
![[The popular megachurch (pictured) is known for being a high-profile evangelical church which attracts thousands to its services on a weekly basis]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/31/14/Screenshot-2024-12-31-at-13.58.15.jpg)
Houston Police Department officers responded to the alert at the pastors’ Lakewood Houston megachurch, off the Southwest Freeway at around 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve after the suspect Aaron Suppes, called in the threat, said police. Suppes appeared in probable cause court on Christmas Day to face charges for the felony offense of terroristic threat.
The 33-year-old suspect reportedly intended to blow up the church with a device that was attached to the gas – an extremely toxic chemical warfare nerve agent – during the holiday candlelight service, as per the outlet. At the time the threat was received, there were reportedly over 5,000 people inside the venue, said prosecutors.
"Defendant called the FBI tipline and said he would go to release sarin gas at Lakewood Church. [The] defendant was located at Lakewood Church and had left his bags at the door," said the judge in the court hearing. Bomb squad officials and a Houston Fire Department hazmat team rifled through the bags for any explosive devices but no threats were reportedly identified.
