Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz on Sunday night visited Kingdom Empowerment International Ministries, 6632 Bustleton Ave. in Castor Gardens.
The event took place on the church’s 13th anniversary.
Oz met with the Rev. Maggie Bellevue, the pastor, along with a roundtable of people that includes other pastors, congressional candidate Aaron Bashir, City Council candidate Drew Murray and local ward leaders Gary Grisafi, Pete Smith, Linwood Holland and Charlie O’Connor.
Oz, joined by his wife Lisa, called for a prayer for the city. The group held hands as Bellevue led people in prayer.
Oz discussed Philadelphia reaching 1,000 carjackings and 400 murders for the year, pointing out last week’s killing of a football player in Roxborough. He said he doesn’t read the paper to see if someone has been killed, but to see how many people have been murdered.
Decriminalizing drugs, Oz said, will lead to more drug deaths and murders. He favors a stronger police presence.
“I haven’t met anybody in the community who wants to defund the police,” he said.
Oz also attended a lengthy church service, offering remarks that included wanting to stop the transfer of fentanyl into the U.S. at the southern border. ••
