Cause of Victory Christian Center's Building Collapse Unclear

 

Updated 2:34 p.m. to add video.  

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SAN ANGELO, TX— Update 11:40 a.m.: Nobody is presumed injured at the Victory Christian Center, where the roof collapsed late Friday morning according to San Angelo Fire Chief Todd Sanford.

A man mowing the grass at the church said he felt part of the roof hit him and he stopped mowing, turned around and saw the roof collapse on what appears the be the chapel of the church.

Right now crews are working to shut off the sprinkler system, which was damaged and set off when the roof collapsed.

No cause has yet been determined. 

Original Story: The roof at the Victory Christian Center at 1620 Sunset Dr. collapsed on Friday.

The San Angelo Fire Department and EMTs are on scene investigating the collapse.

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Above: The Victory Christian Center collapsed on May 25, 2018. (LIVE! Photo/Zoey Hanrahan)

There is no word yet if anyone was inside the building at the time of the collapse.

This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available.

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What did you do Lares? Joking, joking... seriously though, sad to see the collapse, it's going to take a lot of work and money to get these folk's their church home back. Is there any way we can help?

Concho, Fri, 05/25/2018 - 18:35

Yantis, you need to have valid facts and not your unverified thoughts when writing stories.
FACT: Rural route carriers are USPS employees. Frequently they are required to provide their own vehicle and are paid a mileage allowance for doing so.
Highway Contract Employees are not USPS employees and do provide their own vehicles. Their compensation is governed by a negotiated contract.

One of my neighbors is a member and she said that they deemed part of the remaining church "sound" enough for them to meet this Sunday in that portion for service... No water or electricity, but at least they weren't having a service when it came down.

I was one of many who believed what I was told about the towers... Seeing some of the breakdown of the actual recordings and hearing about the structure's inwardly collapsing, does make one want to look harder at 9/11. I saw an engineer who did miniature scale models of the towers, and showed that if a plane did hit, the top section of the first tower would have at least fallen off of the side, but both of them collapsed inwardly, in the slowed footage, you can see detonations precede each floors collapse. Not to mention building 3 was slated for demolition and fell in that same pattern of blasts before each levels collapse. Honestly, it was one of the most terrifying moments of my life, I was in jail and the guards came in to work telling us that America was under terrorist attack, I was like, great... We almost ended up rioting for fear of being subjected to incarceration and occupation by enemy forces... We didn't have TV to understand the scale of the attack or anything... Groupthink can be very pervasive.

The way the buildings fell had all the hallmarks of a controlled demolition. Countless engineers and architects have poured over many facts supporting this theory.

Take the "conspiracy" factor out, and it's just the selling bogus physics and junk science. Most people understand "evil terrorist", but most do not understand that steel frame structures don't fall, as depicted on 9-11, or that jet fuel doesn't burn nearly at the rate that it would take to melt steel.

Of course I didn't know these things either, but a little inquiry goes a long way.

The explosions proceeding each floor's collapse is a great example of "something else" going on, other than runaway planes.

Nate, were you incarcerated in TGC? Were there no pots or pans to pull off an escape?

Perhaps the deity for whom it was built for didn't like it?..... If praying those walls up doesn't pan out, at least insurance actually exists.

MLS, Thu, 05/31/2018 - 15:00

Your comment is a sad one. And your name is appropriate for yourself. You are one of the many sheep getting led to the slaughter. I am a member of VCC. What people who don't believe in God don't understand is that as humans we witness the carnal world with a veil over our eyes that doesn't allow us to see the "why's" and "how's". Already our church has been blessed from this incident. The first blessing being that no one was in the church on a day when they normally would be. Anyone who cannot see that that's God's hand is blind. Spiritually blind. Just know that you are loved. More than you can begin to imagine. And the offer of salvation will always be there for you. Even if you don't accept it until your last breath. Sorry to sound like a "Jesus Freak", but hey...I am and proud of it. I am also human, and imperfect, and a sinner, and a hyprocrite, and all of the other things that non-believers like to criticize believers about. But I'm eternally grateful that God forgives me and everyone else for those things and loves us so much that He made an unimaginable sacrifice in the form of his Son in order to allow us to be with Him forever. And I'm thankful that I can see much farther than what's in front of my eyes and in my brain. Because it gives me something much greater to live for! And once you've lived life like that, you'll never want to go back to simply living in the world. To someone without Jesus, a church collapsing is a devastation. To someone with Jesus, it's an opportunity. God bless you "U R Sheep". You'll be in my prayers...whether you want to be or not ;)!

I was in the TGC Juvenile Justice Center... after which I went to Marlin Orientation and Assessment Unit, from there I did 2 stay's at the infamous West Texas State School in Pyote... Not to be a stinker, but I can't help but tell this story cause it was radical. The second time I was there I was much older than when I first went in... They can keep you till your 21st birthday, you have to complete a program, not just "do time". I had been warned about the "new" Assistant Superintendant, one Ray Brookins... on the van ride from TGCJ to WTSS. They said "He's by the book and very strict, so keep your nose clean this time!" Both of the transport guards knew me from my previous stay a couple of years before.

When I made it to the unit, they perform all the "intake" procedures at the infirmary... Unbeknownst to me, Brookins was in there. There were 2 other young men who came in the same day as me, Brookins started down the line with the furthest guy from me... Asking names and what we were in for. When he got to me, I told him my name and he said, "Ah, I've read your file, you're not going home till your 21st birthday, get ready for a long ride"... I was shocked... I said, "I beg to differ, I'm here to do the program and go home, I don't plan on giving anyone the reason to keep me that long--- It only required 4 months to complete the program... I did end up getting out in just 5, no fault of my own.

Anywho, the kicker came a few weeks into my stay... I hadn't seen Brookins since the first encounter in the infirmary. There were people who came in each Wednesday to "minister" to us if we desired to participate, which I did... This really old "Cowboy", with a rough and wrinkly leather face came to talk to us... He said that he had done 40 years in the system, as a young teen, he'd done something, can't remember what crime, but he had a kind of double jeopardy situation, he did 20 years federal and as soon as they released him, there's the state of Texas to transport him to State where he served another 20 years! Crazy!!! So he asked us if we had prayer requests, and unanimously the group started complaining about this Brookins being crooked, no specific details though... This old man told everyone to "Stop!", he said "let's pray", and then he uttered the simplest prayer I've ever heard in my life... He said, "God, change this man's heart or move him, Amen." No kidding, not but a few days later, Texas Rangers came to the unit and the whole thing went on "Lock Down", we got to watch them walk Brookins out in those nice silver bracelets that a lot of folks enjoy wearing so much... I've read stories that say he was arrested at his home in Austin, but that's not true, he was on campus and they provided housing for higher ranking officials and guards, right outside the fence, which is where he stayed. The story later came out that he was sexually abusing several young men as a condition of their release... They only were able to pin 1 count on him but it stuck... I remember how "crooked" the place was in general and can only imagine how many more there were that didn't come forward.

Aside from that, I never tried to escape, but 9 kids got out a back door that was left open by a guard that brought a small pair of bolt cutters one time... They popped him and I'd bet he served some time... They caught all 9 of them over the next 2 days. I've seen kids bash guards with big ol' mop buckets in the head. One kid got his throat slashed and got staples all across his neck after they fixed the "nick" in his arteries. Riot's in the cafeteria, heads opened up after getting hit with food trays... Soap in a sock beating an old 60 some odd year old guard in the head, he could never work again after the incident, all that and then some... Fights all the time, having to deal with sexual perversion's from other inmates... Made for a lasting impression.

Glad to be out of all my trouble in life, when I got released the second time, the P.A. [program administrator] told me I would end up in TDCJ because I though I was slick and could manipulate the system... At the time, I thought "this idiot doesn't know me", I'll be darned if he wasn't right...

Thank God, that I didn't permanently lose my right to purchase and own a firearm... I got lucky. I learned a lot, I just had to learn it all the hard way.

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2008/feb/15/scandal-rocks-texas-youth-commission-youths-molested-by-school-supervisors/

Thank God for Texas Ranger Brian Burzynski, and Gov. Rick Perry... Scandal at it's finest and highest levels in this article. Had to edit this, I didn't mean to put Abbott in there. He let the issue sit for 2 years. Aww, what the heck, forget Perry too... Just Brian Burzynski... without him, this whole thing would've never even come to the light of day. I have learned what crooked looks like and what integrity is.

If you read the article in the link all the way through, I doubt you could view incarcerated folks the same, even if you think they deserve that kind of treatment on the surface. I lived it and I can't look at it the same.

I think I finally got your question Lares, I was in WTSS when it happened, the inmate or "student" [as they thoughtfully termed us] to guard ratio was such that we could have taken over the whole thing in a matter of hours under the right conditions... We got put on lockdown for a 30+ day period around that time though, lots of unrest. Like I said, we didn't have anything but word of mouth by which to know what had happened, I was there for a while after it happened too. I didn't get my first glimpse of the footage until 03 ish.

That's quite the experience. In any case, glad you turned things around for yourself, as many people who go in can't seem to stay out.

The recent juvenile detention center escape with the pots and pans WAS a shame, but pretty funny at the same time. The whole scenario conjured up goofy images of children wielding cookware and charging the control room, "300" style. It sounded like something out of a crappy Disney movie.

I did think to myself that the situation was pretty embarrassing, they played their cards well and made it seem like no big deal, but seriously, in all the years of that place's operating, you wouldn't want to be the only guard who let some kids escape. Do they not have a "restraint" policy? I guess things are getting softer, in some ways, I think they should, in other ways, I feel like it's a disgrace...

If a small group of us would have tried to pull the same thing in TYC, we would have been "slammed" by some "3oo" pound guy who couldn't get any other job and loved abusing power. There comes a time when, even for juveniles, you have to handle business... Jail is not cute and fluffy!

These kids maybe shouldn't have had their teeth busted out when the got restrained, but letting them take control and escape was too far in the opposite direction in my opinion... Now, all the other kids are going to think it's a joke... They're thinking, "I can leave whenever I want, just have to stop by the kitchen first." I think crooked people will always be a part of systems like this, but I also know that if you can't do your job and have what you need to stop this kind of thing, it's just going to empower the youth. Good blast of O.C. Spray would've gave em something to think about, and they would have showered off and been fine later that night. Oh well, no amount of speculation on my part is going to change that...

Thanks for the compliment, I've no desire to see the inside again... I am blessed to have what nobody imagined I could get, not even me... A family, a house, and a life apart from all those wrong things. I want to show my children that life isn't about being perfect, "Daddy was a screw up too", it's about what you do with your free will, after you've made those mistakes that determines your life... God is great, but even He's not going to miraculously come and halt the system of natural consequences... You're only able to get out, if you put in. I agree with you're choosing only to be personal associate's of those who have demonstrated the ability to live in way's that compliment society... The company of fools isn't a good place for anyone. I don't have anyone besides a couple guys from church that come over, and that took over a year to happen.

I've read all the previous remarks about the church collapse and your retort does not seem to accurately address any of them. I saw nothing that denigrates VCC, Christianity, or religion in general. I assumed you were addressing Lares, but he was very respectful on this one. Yes, the subject got off topic for a bit when 9/11 conspiracy theory was discussed, but in his first remark on this story, he stated he was glad for no injuries and wished all of VCC the best of luck. Or did you mean to reply to something else?

MLS, Thu, 05/31/2018 - 14:59

I was speaking to the comment made by someone under the user name of "U R Sheep". The comment was entitled "Try Praying?". I'm going to copy and paste what they said right here:

"Perhaps the deity for whom it was built for didn't like it?..... If praying those walls up doesn't pan out, at least insurance actually exists."

It rubbed me the wrong way. It just occurred to me that I did not respond in the right spot though...I should have hit reply to his comment. I'll fix it. Thank you! :)

What does all this talk about 9/11 have to do with a church building that collapsed in San Angelo, TX? Somehow I don't see the connection. Nobody knows what happened to the church, but I'm sure there will be an investigation and someone will figure it out, but saying that someone might have cut the joists, etc. is ridiculous. Speculating on the cause and suggesting it was an "inside job" is ridiculous.

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