An US pastor based in South Africa has been kidnapped by masked, gun men who stormed his church service and abducted him as he was preaching a sermon before a congregation in Eastern Cape province.
Four men broke into the Fellowship Baptist church in Motherwell Township on Thursday evening, stole two cellphones from members of the congregation and took away the pastor in his own truck, said police, who have now initiated an investigation into abduction and armed robbery.
Police later found the vehicle abandoned, but there was no trace of Mr Sullivan.
According to the Fellowship Baptist church blog, Sullivan, who described himself as a “church-planting missionary,” his wife Meagan and two children arrived in South Africa in November 2018 to run the Motherwell branch.
A spokesperson from the US State Department told the BBC that they were aware of the kidnapping of a US citizen in South Africa.
They said there was no “greater priority than the safety and security of US citizens abroad”.
Capt Beetge told the BBC the case had been handed to South Africa’s elite police unit, known as the Hawks, which investigates serious organised and commercial crimes and high-level corruption.
“The police is currently following all possible leads to locate the victim and apprehend the perpetrators,” said Hawks spokesman Lt Col Avele Fumba.
Jeremy Hall, the Sullivan family’s spokesman, told local newspaper TimesLive that he was at the church with his wife and their children when the incident took place.
“They knew his name,” he said.
Mr Sullivan’s mother, Tonya Morton Rinker, wrote on Facebook that she was heartbroken over the news.
She added: “Our congressman and American embassy are working on finding him.”
No ransom has been requested, according to the privately-owned News24.
Mr Sullivan describes himself as “a church planting missionary” on his personal website.
On it, he says he moved to South Africa with his wife and children in 2018 to establish a church for Xhosa-speaking people.
Over the past decade, there has been 264% increase in kidnappings in South Africa, according to police statistics.
Just a few days ago, a Chinese national was kidnapped in Gqberra.
