American Pastor Kidnapped in South Africa Is Rescued After Shootout

New York Times

16-04-2025

An American pastor who was abducted in South Africa last week was rescued on Tuesday after a dramatic shootout between the police and his kidnappers, which left three suspects dead, the South African police said.
The pastor, Josh Sullivan, from Tennessee, was kidnapped on Thursday by four masked men as he was giving a sermon at the Fellowship Baptist church in Motherwell, a township in the Eastern Cape Province. He was then taken a few miles into the city of Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, the police said in a statement, and held in a safe house — a gated, concrete building.
The police, after gathering intelligence, zeroed in on the house, said Lt. Col. Avele Fumba, a spokesman for the South African Police Service. When they arrived, they found a vehicle outside the building with several men inside.
'Upon seeing the police approaching, we believe that they panicked, and started opening fire,' Mr. Fumba said.
A 'high-intensity' gun battle erupted and three suspects, whom the police have not identified, were killed, the police said.
Inside the vehicle, officers discovered Mr. Sullivan. He was 'miraculously unharmed,' the police said, and is currently in 'excellent condition.' He was later reunited with his family, Mr. Fumba said.
'We're just ecstatically happy he's home safe and unhurt,' Mr. Sullivan's mother, Tonya Rinker, wrote in a text message.
Mr. Sullivan, a 34-year-old father, moved to South Africa in 2018 with his wife and family on a mission for the Fellowship Baptist Church, where he has been a staff member for more than a decade, according to his personal website. 'We are looking to finish language school soon and plant a church to the Xhosa speaking people,' he wrote.
On Thursday, as he was preaching to a congregation that included his wife and children, four masked men entered the building and stole two cellphones from members of the congregation, according to The Associated Press. Jeremy Hall, a spokesman for the family, told the South African publication Times Live that the men grabbed Mr. Sullivan's wife, Meagan Sullivan, and asked: 'Josh, is this your wife?'
'They knew his name,' Mr. Hall said.
The men then pushed Ms. Sullivan to the ground, grabbed Mr. Sullivan and took off with him in his vehicle, Mr. Hall said. His vehicle was found abandoned a few hours later.
After his abduction, Mr. Sullivan's kidnappers made a ransom demand, Mr. Fumba said, but he declined to give details because he said the case was still under investigation. After the demand was made, the case was transferred from the police to the Hawks, a specialized law enforcement team that investigates organized crimes and that led the operation at the safe house, Mr. Fumba said.
While the motive of the suspects was still under investigation, Mr. Fumba said he believed the kidnapping was perpetrated by 'greedy youngsters' who were likely looking to make some 'quick cash.' The police are still looking for others who might have been involved in the abduction, he said.
Kidnappings in South Africa have surged in the last decade, with about 17,000 cases reported between April 2023 and March 2024, according to the Institute for Security Studies, or I.S.S., an Africa-focused think tank.
Kidnappings with ransom demands make up only about 5 percent of those abductions. The majority of kidnappings in the country are known as 'express kidnappings,' and typically involve a victim being held for a few hours and forced to make bank transfers or withdraw cash from ATMs, the I.S.S. wrote.
While some kidnappings in South Africa are orchestrated by sophisticated transnational organized crime groups that seek out high-value targets, most are conducted by local crime groups, according to I.S.S.