A congregant at a South Carolina Episcopalian church was arrested Nov. 2 after he approached a group of pro-lifers and threatened them with what had appeared to be a hand grenade.
Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, a pro-life advocacy organization, stated in a news release that its activists were protesting Sunday outside Saint Anne’s Episcopal Church in Conway over claims that the church has connections to the Palmetto State Abortion Fund, a nonprofit that assists women seeking abortions. The activists held pro-life signs and addressed congregants with megaphones, telling them, “We’re calling you higher. We’re calling you to repentance.”
One congregant, Richard Lovelace, walked toward the protestors and pulled out what is believed to have been a hand grenade. According to video footage of the incident, he said, “I have a grenade for y’all. A gift for you protestors.”
NBC affiliate WMBF reported that Lovelace, a retired lawyer, then walked away and later handed the grenade to another person. Police arrived shortly after the threat and arrested Lovelace after they spoke with the activists and other congregants. According to the outlet, the police report states that the grenade had its detonator removed, though Lovelance’s warrants say that he used the weapon in a way that led the activists to believe it was active.
“I think the best way to describe it is if you have a gun and you present it without bullets, you don’t know,” protester David Warner said, according to the outlet. “And this person did that basically, but presented a weapon maybe without the stuff inside but how would you know that? Nobody would know that.”
Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust responded to the incident on social media, saying, “Although the grenade turned out to be hollowed out, we cannot continue to live in a society where violence, real or fabricated, is used to threaten or intimidate those with opposing views.”
WMBF reported that Lovelace was charged “with four counts of having a hoax device or a replica of a destructive device and threatening to use it.” He was released from the detention center Nov. 3 on a $60,000 bond.