A foreign pastor in Izmir escaped possible harm last week after a Turkish man shouting ultranationalist slogans fired blank shots into the air before being subdued by bystanders when he allegedly reached for a concealed BB gun.

Andrew Craig Brunson, the general-secretary of the Diriliş (Resurrection) Church Association in the Aegean province, was standing in front of the organization’s building when the suspect, identified only as M.A.E., approached and started shouting anti-missionary slogans. Brunson and passersby helped restrain the would-be assailant after he tried to extract an extra gun hidden in a bag, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The Izmir Police Department’s anti-terror branch was continuing its questioning of M.A.E., who is reported to be an extreme nationalist based on his Facebook status updates and his membership in various online groups. Writing a Facebook status update a few hours before his alleged attack, M.A.E. said, “The imperialists who carry out missionary acts will remove their bloody hands from my country.”

Christian religious figures have been the target of a spate of attacks in recent years, many of them deadly. Last month, Istanbul police apprehended two men who allegedly planned to assassinate a priest in the city’s district of Fatih.

Previous attacks, however, resulted in a number of fatalities throughout the country. Italian priest Andrea Santoro was shot and killed at his church in Trabzon on Feb. 5, 2006, by a 16-year-old identified only as O.A. Three missionaries were tortured and killed at Zirve Publishing House in Malatya on April 18, 2007. Authorities continue to investigate the matter, which is believed to be an act of the “deep state,” rather than a group of independent fanatics. The latest Ergenekon raids last week were related to the investigation. Italian Pontiff Luigi Padovese was stabbed and killed by his driver in Iskenderun on June 15, 2010.