NEW INFO: Neillsville Area Church Interrupted by Intruder this Past Sunday
Wednesday, May 1st, 2019 -- 1:52 PM
-Neillsville area churches have, allegedly, been experiencing a strange interruption during their services.This past Sunday, Neillsville’s Interim Police Chief Patrick Fehlman was called to the United Church of Christ in Neillsville for a possible intruder. After Interim Chief Fehlman and several Clark County Sheriff Deputies arrived on scene, it was realized that a male subject entered the church to express his different viewpoint on religion and peacefully left. Interim Chief Fehlman made contact with the male subject approximately a block from the church and spoke with him. Deputies spoke with the reporting parties at the church and no mention of threats or violence were expressed to them by either party. Interim Chief Fehlman initially believed this was an isolated event. However, he was later informed by other citizens of other occurrences. An unidentified number of churches in Neillsville were possibly visited by this same subject.
I spoke with the Interim Chief Fehlman and he believed that the community is no danger from this individual. He believes the individual has just made poor decisions in how he wants to spread his message regarding religion. Interim Chief Fehlman knows a situation like that can be scary, especially with things happening the way they are on the national level, but, again, he feels there is no danger to the community.
Also, he did state that his officer, as well as the sheriff’s department, will be keeping their eyes open during this upcoming weekend’s church services. He said they can’t provide security at every church, but he said if anything seems out of the ordinary at any church, he encourages you to call the department. Interim Chief Fehlman is continuing to look into the matter. United Church of Christ does record a portion of their service with our station on Sunday mornings. The incident was captured and the audio clip was shared with Interim Chief Fehlman by our station.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.