Minister Threatens To Shoot Eviction Process Servers: Prosecutor

ORLAND PARK, IL -- A minister threatened to shoot a field supervisor from a management company who had come to discuss an eviction, prosecutors said. John Ambercrombie, 62, appeared before Cook County Judge Michael Kane on a felony charge of intimidation. Ambercrombie is pastor of Zoe Life Ministries in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, according to the church website.

The prosecutor said that on Feb. 21, the field supervisor went to Ambercrombie’s home in the 0-100 block of Silo Ridge in Orland Park to discuss an eviction for non-payment of assessment fees. Ambercrombie was not home so the field supervisor left his card. Ten minutes later, Ambercrombie was on the phone telling the field supervisor that he had a conceal-carry license and would shoot him if he came back the next day, according to the charges. The prosecutor said Ambercrombie also told the man that if the Cook County Sheriff’s process server came the next day “there would be a war.”

The next day, while waiting for the sheriff to arrived for the scheduled eviction, Ambercrombie saw the field supervisor sitting in his car. Ambercrombie approached the man and told him he had cameras and would know if anything was going on, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor further added that the investigation revealed that the defendant does not possess a FOID, conceal-carry license, nor does he own registered firearms.

Ambercrombie made remarks that the eviction was not going to take place before the judge cut him off. The minister’s attorney told the judge his client is a pastor and president of Kingdom Community Inc. He runs a summer program that helps find jobs for at-risk youth.

The judge released Ambercrombie on a $10,000 I-bond. Ambercrombie’s next court date is April 5.