Gunman terrorizes Catholic church before Mass

[Tarwater]

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_7380378

PALMDALE - A 65-year-old man armed with a gun terrorized a Catholic church before Sunday evening services, shouting profanities, assaulting a priest who tried to calm him and making threats as choir members held him down.

"There's going to be a killing," Claude Sricchia is said to have shouted once he entered St. Mary's Catholic Church about half an hour before the 5:30 p.m. Mass.

"It was kind of a frightening experience," said Msgr. Stephen Downes, St. Mary's pastor. "The man was shouting in the church, `Clear the church, there's going to be a killing."'

Sheriff's deputies arrived, and as they were handcuffing Sricchia they found a loaded .45-caliber pistol tucked in the back of his waistband, officials said.

"It was cocked and ready to go," Deputy Daryl Bonsall said.

Sricchia, who lives in Acton, was arrested on suspicion of making terrorist threats, assault and having a concealed firearm, Bonsall said.

Sricchia was not a member of the Palmdale parish, Downes said.

The pastor had just arrived at the church at 1600 E. Ave. R when a staff member called his cell phone, alerting him to a man shouting inside the church.

"As I walked in, he had gotten to the choir area and became very aggressive," Downes said. "He hit a male choir member on the side of the head, then a maintenance man tackled him to the ground. Other choir members held him down."

Downes said the man was cursing, saying there was no God or religion, Downes said. "He said, `I believed for 65 years. There is no God,"' Downes said.

Downes went to try to calm Sricchia but when the man realized that Downes was a priest, "he became enraged and cursed and swore even more and called me a child molester," Downes said.

The man kicked Downes, knocking him to the ground.

Mass was held but started late, Downes said.

Are churches gun-free in California? I know they are in my state.

 

[gunsmith]

afaik ianal

nope!

Are churches gun-free in California? I know they are in my state.

 

[fast eddie]

a maintenance man tackled him to the ground.

Give that man an award.

 

[arthurcw]

No. This is not possible. Psychos and criminals respect places of worship just like they respect posted gun free zones, schools, personal property, senior citizens, women, and the week. Has someone Snopesed this? I smell fake!

D@MN! I just bit my tongue. ‘s what I get for keeping in my cheek so long.

At Mass, my P-3AT is in my right pocket and my Rosary is in my left.

 

[cloudedice]

Sheriff's deputies arrived, and as they were handcuffing Sricchia they found a loaded .45-caliber pistol tucked in the back of his waistband, officials said.

"It was cocked and ready to go," Deputy Daryl Bonsall said.

Who wants to be a free coffee it was a 1911?

 

[TallPine]

Another mass shooting barely averted.

 

[jaholder1971]

I'm afraid the priest abuse scandal(s) have scratched open a scar over a very large, ugly wound. While this may be one lone nutjob there have been more than a few violent encounters by folks abused long ago against priests and the Catholic Church.

It's not the first and unfortunately won't be the last.

OT, but Food for thought: The Catholic Church is a large organization with large coffers and real estate valued in the billions. IF it could be proved (easily IMHO) that the Church was using church money to knowingly jockey pedo priests around one step ahead of the law as well as hush up accusers and their families, could that put them into violating the Federal RICO laws? Add to the equation that many diocese are also harboring illegal aliens unlawfully the Church seems to be treading some deep water.

 

[tmajors]

I've tried to keep Church a self imposed gun free zone...In God's hands and all that...but I might have to change.

 

[scurtis_34471]

Crap like this is why I carry in church.

 

[arthurcw]

Another mass shooting barely averted.

PM me so I can give you the address to mail me a new keyboard.

 

[Claude the Libertarian]

Maintenance man should be proud, since he was the only one there with a backbone.

 

[lance22]

How sad that they perpetuated the cycle of violence by fighting back.

There is another enlightened way for this to end. The Brady Campaign instructs us to give the agressor what he wants. Since the agressor repeated that what he wanted was 'a shooting' perhaps somebody could have obliged and given him one.

 

[Eyesac]

Crap like this is why I carry in church

Crap like this is why I carry everywhere...

 

[ZeSpectre]

What the hell with the maintenance people stopping crime lately?
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=314745

Maybe we should just hand THEM badges and move on!

 

[bluestarlizzard]

"Are churches gun-free in California? I know they are in my state."
don't know about CA, but at my dads church the pastor had to tell the guys not to bring guns to church anymore, cause they would all be outside oohhhing and awwwing over somebodys new prize, instead of socializing with the other church goers after service. of course they still talk guns...... well boys will be boys.

 

[DKSuddeth]

just glad that all those church goers respected the gun free zone or there would have been dozens of innocent bystanders slaughtered by all the wildly innaccurate shooting by the handful of wild west do gooders as they and the bad guy shot it out. Then the do gooders would have most certainly been gunned down by the arriving LEOs because they obviously wouldn't have been able to discern between them and the still standing bad guy holding his gun. what a relief.

 

[RKBABob]

tmajors wrote: I've tried to keep Church a self imposed gun free zone...In God's hands and all that...but I might have to change.

Doesn't God act through people? If an incident like this were to happen, maybe His plan is you!

I'm sure firearms would be frowned upon at the church i used to attend, since it would be an indication that I don't have faith in God to protect me. If I were ever to be attacked and severely injured, they'd probably say I was being tested by God... of course, if God is gonna give me that kind of test, I wanna be prepared so I'll pass!

 

[Mr. James]

At Mass, my P-3AT is in my right pocket and my Rosary is in my left.

Although you wouldn't hear this at Mass, "Kin I have an AMEN, brothers!?!"

Virginia's statute is hideous. It prohibits carrying a concealed weapon in a place of worship "without good and sufficient reason." Good and sufficient reason is nowhere defined in the statute.

Well, if any such reason was needed, here it is.

 

[romma]

All I can say is, if God will protect me from evil and I can't carry in a church, then God doesn't need money, maintenance, preachers or anything done by man... God will take care of the church...

What business does the state have anywhere inflicting no carry laws in churches anyhow?? Where is the mighty ACLU on this one?

 

[Tarwater]

What business does the state have anywhere inflicting no carry laws in churches anyhow?? Where is the mighty ACLU on this one?

I've often wondered that myself. Especially those little independent Protestant churches all over the place here. The government doesn't own those buildings, so how could they possibly enforce that kind of law if the owners of the church allow it?

 

[CajunBass]

Virginia's statute is hideous. It prohibits carrying a concealed weapon in a place of worship "without good and sufficient reason." Good and sufficient reason is nowhere defined in the statute.

You're right. But since it's not clear, I have come to the conclusion that "I want to" is "good and sufficient reason."

 

[Alan Fud]

OT, but Food for thought: The Catholic Church is a large organization with large coffers and real estate valued in the billions. IF it could be proved (easily IMHO) that the Church was using church money to knowingly jockey pedo priests around one step ahead of the law as well as hush up accusers and their families, could that put them into violating the Federal RICO laws?

The vast majority of bishops were following official guidelines as set up by clinical psychiatrists and psychologists with regard to pedophile priests.

While we are on the subject, I've been doing some research into it and to keep things in perspective ... There are 46,000 Roman Catholic priests in the United States and about 0.7% were involved in abusing children. So 0.7% of 46,000 is 322. There are about 10,000,000 teachers in the US. 5% have abused children. 5% of 10,000,000 is 500,000! More than 1,500 times as many teachers are abusers than priests. (by the way, why do I have to figure these numbers out, why ain't the papers all over this?). In about 16% of the cases, administrators worked to cover it up, so 16% of 500,000 - thats 80,000. So the public schools covered up almost 250 times as many cases of abuse then were committed by all Roman Catholic priests.

From this, it's pretty clear that our public school system, which is run by the government, is a much more serious threat to our children than Catholic priests in terms of actual crime AND cover-ups.

Editted to add: Another important thing to take into account is that the Vatican material property technically does not belong to the Church. It belongs to all the faithful (~1 billion catholics) around the world. The church is merely the steward of that material property.

 

[strat81]

What business does the state have anywhere inflicting no carry laws in churches anyhow??

Here in NE, I can't carry in "financial institutions"* or at professional, "semi-professional"**, or collegiate sporting events. Churches too. If you would like to challenge the law, by all means, go ahead. I don't agree with it, but I'm not willing to be a test case.

*Do check cashing joints count? What about a c-store with an ATM? What about a Wal-mart with a bank in it? Lame.

**What is a semi-professional sporting event? Even minor league players are professionals. Closest I can think of would be a Golden Gloves or King of the Cage match where only the winner gets paid and it's generally amateurs that are competing.

 

[obxned]

Years and years ago, I worked at a business where off duty priests used to hang out. Several had been in parishes in bad, bad places in Chicago. Thier mantra was "Faith in God, and a keep 1911 handy".

 

[Dienekes]

Well said, Fud. Also a pretty fair number of those "victims" seem to have been in their teens. Not to excuse the inexcusable, but there is usually more to the story than gets covered by the MSM. And as noted, the public school system tends to get a pass on this sort of thing...

If I remember my Aquinas correctly, he had no problem with self-defense. As a matter of fact, he originated the just war doctrine.