Did divine intervention prevent McDonald's massacre?

A man apparently was intent on holding up a McDonald's and willing to shoot people. In fact, he pointed his gun at his intended victims and pulled the trigger, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

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He ran outside and pointed the gun in the air. It discharged.

Back inside, he aimed again.

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Returning outside, he pulled the trigger twice, aiming at a passing car. The gun fired.

"I've never seen anything like that before," said police Sgt. Joe Loughman. "It must not have been their time to go."

He was talking about the attempted robbery by Jestin Anthony Joseph, 24, who apparently is mentally disturbed.

The Star-Telegram reported surveillance video showed Joseph pulling the trigger several times during the incident.

But no one was hit and police are baffled.

Joseph's mother, however, told the newspaper she believes the gun misfired – repeatedly – because "we were praying."

She recounted for the newspaper how her son had called her and clearly was distressed.

People were after him, she said he fretted.

"He said, 'They’re trying to kill me, Mama! I'm going to die tonight! I'm going to die tonight!'" the mother, who didn't want to be identified, told the newspaper.

"Last night, I told God to keep Jestin, and that's what I do believe happened," she said. "I did not know he even had a gun."

She said she believes her son had a mental breakdown.

"He was not in his right mind," she told the Star-Telegram.

Police say there were plenty of potential victims, with 15 people inside the McDonald's.

The suspect had a semiautomatic handgun and appeared, according to police, to be pulling the trigger but the gun wouldn't fire.

According to the newspaper, the gunman went outside, fired a shot into the air and returned.

The Star-Telegram reported: "As people continued to run from the restaurant, the man again pointed the gun at those inside and pulled the trigger. Again, Loughman said, the gun did not fire. Loughman said the man went back outside near the service road, got his gun to work and fired two rounds in the direction of a passing vehicle. The driver never stopped."

The suspect then fled and was arrested a short time later. Police found the gun he apparently threw away.

"I've never seen a video like this before," said Loughman. "My gut feeling is the city of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth police department avoided a major tragedy on Tuesday night."

According to an NBC outlet, the suspect walked over to a water fountain, and witnesses reported he was mumbling to himself before he pulled out the gun.

The station said reporters interviewed Joseph while he was in custody.

"I walked into McDonald's, asked for water, went to the machine and, as soon as I did, dude said something to me. That's when I pulled the gun, and I lost it," Joseph told the station.

He said he was hearing voices.