An American pastor abducted during a church service in South Africa has been rescued following a police operation that ended in a deadly shootout with his captors.
Josh Sullivan, 45, was found unharmed in a house in the Gqeberha township of the Eastern Cape on Tuesday evening, five days after armed men kidnapped him during a religious gathering.
Authorities confirmed that three suspects were killed during what was described as a “high-intensity shoot-out” involving South Africa’s elite crime-fighting unit, the Hawks.
Mr Sullivan’s abduction had sparked a manhunt, following a ransom demand issued by his kidnappers. His case is one of many in a country grappling with a growing trend of ransom-related kidnappings.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Hawks spokesperson Avele Fumba detailed the events of the operation: “Verified intelligence [led to] a coordinated team… [that] moved swiftly to the identified location.”
According to Mr Fumba, the confrontation escalated quickly as the suspects tried to flee the scene. “As the officers approached the house, the suspects attempted to flee inside a vehicle, while opening fire. The officers responded with tactical precision, leading to a high-intensity shootout in which three unidentified suspects were fatally wounded,” he said.
Sullivan’s disappearance drew public outcry and urgent appeals for his release from loved ones and fellow church members.
Jeremy Hall, a spokesman for the Sullivan family, told TimesLIVE that the pastor had been with his wife and children at the time of the kidnapping. “They knew his name,” he recalled.
Describing himself on his personal website as “a church planting missionary,” Mr Sullivan wrote that he and his family relocated to South Africa in 2018 to start a church for Xhosa-speaking communities.
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