Unreported - Man Brandishes a Firearm in Orem, Utah Church Lobby - July 19th, 2026

[Pyreaux]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xv1CTMyPRQ

July 19th Sunday service scare at an LDS meetinghouse in Orem, Utah, told from the perspective of eyewitness "Matt", who was in the building during the incident.

An individual dressed all in black entered the church building during the second hour of services (Sunday School) and sat in the west foyer. He pulled out a handgun, set it down beside himself, and kept his hand on it to ensure he was seen. He was not yelling or acting aggressively, and it was later determined/believed the gun was unloaded, leading the witness to speculate it might have been an attempt at "death by cop" or a mental health breakdown.

Leaders quietly instructed classes to offer a prayer and calmly evacuate through secondary exits to prevent a panic that might agitate the man. A leader/member engaged the man in conversation to keep him calm while police were dispatched. Law enforcement arrived, entered with weapons drawn, and took the suspect into custody without any shots fired, injuries, or casualties.

Lack of News Coverage

The host notes that there was virtually no local media coverage of the incident at the time of recording, which both speakers speculate was an effort by authorities or local media to avoid inspiring copycats.

Debate on Church Weapons Policy

The speakers explicitly address the LDS Church's formal policy banning lethal weapons on church property. They debate the tension between following church rules versus personal conscience, priesthood responsibility, and "following the Spirit" to protect one's family.

Edited July 30 by Pyreaux
Adding specific location. Correcting exact date.

[Calm]

1 hour ago, Pyreaux said:

The speakers explicitly address the LDS Church's formal policy banning lethal weapons on church property. They debate the tension between following church rules versus personal conscience, priesthood responsibility, and "following the Spirit" to protect one's famil

In this case might have saved the man’s life.

[Pyreaux]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgtv9cPnJXU

In this follow-up video, the host Alex addresses viewer inquiries and provides further specifics. The previously discussed Utah incident took place in Orem, Utah, specifically at a Spanish-speaking ward.

According to a user comment read by the host, the individual arrested was identified as Ronald Richards, booked through the Utah County Sheriff’s Office records for an incident on July 19, 2026.

More incidents

The host reads comments from other viewers recounting that bizarrely similar non-shooting security scares have been happening across different locations

Arkansas (June 2026)

A commenter reported an unpublicized incident where an individual entered an LDS chapel, terrifying attendees without anyone being shot or physically harmed. Following the event, stake leaders instructed local units to have men positioned in lobbies as greeters.

Cache Valley, Utah (July 19th, 2026)

A viewer reported that on the exact same Sunday as the Orem, Utah incident, a young man dressed entirely in black with a full face covering and hood entered their parents' sacrament meeting in Cache Valley, Utah and sat down next to an escort without taking aggressive action, which the commenter viewed as a probing "test."

[Calm]

Okay, that’s weird.  Have those been confirmed as valid yet?

[Pyreaux]

On 7/30/2026 at 3:52 PM, Calm said:

Okay, that’s weird.  Have those been confirmed as valid yet?

Not yet, though the claim is the leadership is asking people not to report it. I don't know if we'll get any official report anytime soon. 

Utah security gurus say Anti-LDS wave events are thought to be triggered by a specific news story or reddit activity. But there was no explosive headline on or immediately before July 19, 2026 that correlates directly with the timing of both incidents.

Ronald Richards is a 70-year-old man in Orem. Older individuals who display firearms without shooting often turn out to be experiencing severe personal crises or a suicide-by-cop ideation rather than activism.

Cache Valley was a young man. Younger ones sometimes engage in disruptive or testing behavior in soft targets, like open church lobbies, simply due to social media trends, local grievances, or antisocial behavior.

The motive could simply be the vulnerability of the environment. Latter-day Saints maintain open doors on Sunday and no routine security. A safe space to make a statement or test boundaries.

[Notatbm]

If this did happen, I would not be surprised in the least if the church covers it up... I mean it isnt like this would be the first time church leaders tried to cover up a gun incident in a church building.

[Tony uk]

If this was in someway a cry for help on the part of the man, possible mental health issues. Then at least he went to a place where he felt that help could be initiated. I am certainly not accepting carrying the gun in the manner he did to be correct. If the man was suffering from mental health health issues, maybe there was something in his mind to go where he did, do what he did to gain attention from a sympathetic understanding person or people. From there the appropriate help would be provided.

[The Nehor]

18 hours ago, Notatbm said:

If this did happen, I would not be surprised in the least if the church covers it up... I mean it isnt like this would be the first time church leaders tried to cover up a gun incident in a church building.

Why in the world would anyone care to cover this up?

And this isn’t a cover up. It is that gun incidents are so common in the US that it has to be pretty big to make the news.

[Notatbm]

18 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Why in the world would anyone care to cover this up?

And this isn’t a cover up. It is that gun incidents are so common in the US that it has to be pretty big to make the news.

Beats me except the church leaders could possibly use lack of safety, or advertising there is absolutely no security for the membership… it is a bad look in terms of safety for the membership.
 

Like I said it would not be the first time church leaders covered up a gun incident at a  church building. 

Edited August 5 by Notatbm

[Pyreaux]

On 8/5/2026 at 12:21 AM, Notatbm said:

Beats me except the church leaders could possibly use lack of safety, or advertising there is absolutely no security for the membership… it is a bad look in terms of safety for the membership.
 

Like I said it would not be the first time church leaders covered up a gun incident at a  church building. 

Excusing your customary jabs, because I'm trying to agree you, we shouldn't avoid publicity. It's called the copycat protocal. We stay quiet thinking if a single act of vandalism, arson and apparently nonleathel gun incidents is widely reported, it can inspire "copycats." The theory is publicity gives another individual who is already predisposed to hostility an idea, a method, and a target. However, I posted it because I feel different.

When it is a rare, freak occurrence, there might be a need to worry about copycats hearing about it. But when it is constant (endemic), the use of the copycat protocol only prevents us from exposing the inciters to deserved shame.

The media's continued use of the "don't give them fame" rule might not be protecting against new crime but protecting the hate group or ideology itself. These radicals may not care about the criminal's arrest or fame, but I think they do care about the narrative turned on them in the eyes of "decent people." If the crimes are only reported vaguely, the original rhetoric by people that created the climate of hatred is never brought to trial in the court of public opinion.

 

[Stargazer]

On 8/5/2026 at 6:21 AM, Notatbm said:

Beats me except the church leaders could possibly use lack of safety, or advertising there is absolutely no security for the membership… it is a bad look in terms of safety for the membership.
 

Like I said it would not be the first time church leaders covered up a gun incident at a  church building. 

Is there anything the church does or does not do that cannot be criticized by you as some sort of cover-up or nefarious attempt to [insert dastardly act of dishonesty]?

And since you seem to know so much, just how many times have church leaders covered up a gun incident at a church building? Can you list some of them? Or is this one of those "studies show" or "experts say" kind of deals? 

[Pyreaux]

13 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Is there anything the church does or does not do that cannot be criticized by you as some sort of cover-up or nefarious attempt to [insert dastardly act of dishonesty]?

And since you seem to know so much, just how many times have church leaders covered up a gun incident at a church building? Can you list some of them? Or is this one of those "studies show" or "experts say" kind of deals? 

Or 74.3% of statistics are made up on the spot.

[Notatbm]

16 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Is there anything the church does or does not do that cannot be criticized by you as some sort of cover-up or nefarious attempt to [insert dastardly act of dishonesty]?

And since you seem to know so much, just how many times have church leaders covered up a gun incident at a church building? Can you list some of them? Or is this one of those "studies show" or "experts say" kind of deals? 

https://kutv.com/news/local/audio-recording-leaked-after-accidental-shooting-in-lds-church

I didn’t declare what I did or didn’t know other than if this was covered up…. It wouldn’t be the first time. 
 

[Doctor Steuss]

  

On 7/30/2026 at 9:49 AM, Pyreaux said:

[...]

Debate on Church Weapons Policy

The speakers explicitly address the LDS Church's formal policy banning lethal weapons on church property. They debate the tension between following church rules versus personal conscience, priesthood responsibility, and "following the Spirit" to protect one's family.

I'm glad I stumbled on this thread, as I just shared some personal experience on another -- and this has me perplexed about the two Stakes I informally participate in (my home Ward/Stake, and my parents').  I don't attend church anymore (other than for special family/friend things), but I happily volunteer whenever I get a call to (mostly to help with security at events, but occasionally to help clean the chapel, or a service project for someone).  Whenever I volunteer helping with security, I am told who each person is that's armed.  As far as I know, they are tasked with concealed carry for regular meetings as well, not just events at the chapel.  The Stake and Ward security leads always make sure we all know who is armed in the chapel.  Them being armed is something they are asked to do by the head of security (whether at the Stake or at the Ward level).  I only know three of them personally, so I don't know about all of their backgrounds (we don't usually have time for casual get-to-know-you chit-chat).  One is a detective, one is a motorcycle cop, (both with metro) and one is a constable (for the county).

I assumed this was standard practice nowadays at all Wards and Stakes, but apparently either my area has gone rogue, or there are special exceptions granted.  As far as I know, there wasn't really anything in the valley as far as a string of threats or anything like that, which precipitated the change.  I'm not even sure how long the Stake and Wards have had a security related calling... I just know I started being asked about 10-ish years ago to help (and that's when I became aware of it).

ETA:  If there is anyone who is tasked with this, who knows if this isn't supposed to be knowledge, please let me know and I'll happily delete this and my other comment (as I started to think about it, there's likely a certain level of "security" in people *not* knowing that there's specialized security).

Edited 2 hours ago by Doctor Steuss

[manol]

35 minutes ago, Doctor Steuss said:

Whenever I volunteer helping with security, I am told who each person is that's armed.  As far as I know, they are tasked with concealed carry for regular meetings as well, not just events at the chapel.  The Stake and Ward security leads always make sure we all know who is armed in the chapel.  Them being armed is something they are asked to do by the head of security (whether at the Stake or at the Ward level).  I only know three of them personally, so I don't know about all of their backgrounds (we don't usually have time for casual get-to-know-you chit-chat).  One is a detective, one is a motorcycle cop, (both with metro) and one is a constable (for the county).

I assumed this was standard practice nowadays at all Wards and Stakes, but apparently either my area has gone rogue, or there are special exceptions granted.  As far as I know, there wasn't really anything in the valley as far as a string of threats or anything like that, which precipitated the change.  I'm not even sure how long the Stake and Wards have had a security related calling... I just know I started being asked about 10-ish years ago to help (and that's when I became aware of it).

I've been out of the loop for a while so your posts are the first time I've heard of anything like this.  Imo it's prudent, and of course unfortunate that present circumstances make it prudent.

Thirty-something years ago a man began calling our ward repeatedly threatening to show up and kill Mormons.  Nobody else took his threats seriously, which was probably logical because nothing like what he was threatening had ever happened.  I appointed myself "unofficial greeter", hanging around outside before and after meetings, and keeping an eye on what was happening outside and/or at the entrances as best I could during meetings both on Sundays and during the week.  I was in the bishopric so my presence wasn't abnormal, and people just thought I was this cheerful little guy who liked to greet everyone.  Nobody ever knew I was carrying, illegally because there was no other option in that jurisdiction at that time.  

Glad to hear there is now an actual plan in place, at least in some locations, and that actual trained personnel are involved. 

[Notatbm]

43 minutes ago, Doctor Steuss said:

  

I'm glad I stumbled on this thread, as I just shared some personal experience on another -- and this has me perplexed about the two Stakes I informally participate in (my home Ward/Stake, and my parents').  I don't attend church anymore (other than for special family/friend things), but I happily volunteer whenever I get a call to (mostly to help with security at events, but occasionally to help clean the chapel, or a service project for someone).  Whenever I volunteer helping with security, I am told who each person is that's armed.  As far as I know, they are tasked with concealed carry for regular meetings as well, not just events at the chapel.  The Stake and Ward security leads always make sure we all know who is armed in the chapel.  Them being armed is something they are asked to do by the head of security (whether at the Stake or at the Ward level).  I only know three of them personally, so I don't know about all of their backgrounds (we don't usually have time for casual get-to-know-you chit-chat).  One is a detective, one is a motorcycle cop, (both with metro) and one is a constable (for the county).

I assumed this was standard practice nowadays at all Wards and Stakes, but apparently either my area has gone rogue, or there are special exceptions granted.  As far as I know, there wasn't really anything in the valley as far as a string of threats or anything like that, which precipitated the change.  I'm not even sure how long the Stake and Wards have had a security related calling... I just know I started being asked about 10-ish years ago to help (and that's when I became aware of it).

ETA:  If there is anyone who is tasked with this, who knows if this isn't supposed to be knowledge, please let me know and I'll happily delete this and my other comment (as I started to think about it, there's likely a certain level of "security" in people *not* knowing that there's specialized security).

Ward security specialist (armed) is pretty much a fake calling. There are no official church positions other than assigned out of the COB for General Authorities and special events or circumstances for armed personnel. I'm open to being wrong, but my ward has "security specialists" too and i just looked them up and none of them have that listed as a calling so i believe it to be a made up local thing. Official church policy is all weapons are prohibited in church buildings with the exception for certified current police officers. 

Anyone who engages in armed security work at the local level at the request of a bishop or stake president would be well advised to get the assignment documented on paper though kirton mckonkie, tape record the appointment (calling) and get it archived. If in that capacity you shoot someone at church(even if they needed to be killed) I 100% guarantee you the church will not indemnify you and the bishop or whatever stake leader will be blamed for going rogue and not following church policy.