14 DAY TRIAL // Several people witnessed a man pull out a knife and attack choir members at a church in Albuquerque, New Mexico during Sunday mass.
At roughly 12:15 p.m. on April 28, 24-year-old Lawrence Capener stabbed four choir singers at St. Jude Thaddeus Church in northwest Albuquerque, KOAT reports.
“I looked up, and I saw a young man with a very scary look in his eyes - fury, anger, hatred,” witness Brenda Baca King, also a member of the choir, describes.
Several people jumped in to stop the assailant, eventually managing to subdue him until the arrival of law enforcement officials.
“I noticed the suspect run up and, basically, start attacking the choir, so I ran over there immediately to go do what I could do to stop it,” adds churchgoer Sider Esquibel.
Capener, who does not attend mass at the church, severely injured two people and inflicted minor wounds on two others. The victims are alive and have been transported to local hospitals for treatment.
While the motivation for the assault is not known at this point, parishioners' accounts have revealed that he has launched himself at the soloist first, after yelling out “Fake Preacher!”
“He had a knife and was attacking our soloist, and our flutist tried to protect him and got stabbed also,” King says.
“This is the first time in my 30 years serving as archbishop in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and as Bishop of Lubbock, that anything like this has occurred. I pray for all who have been harmed, their families, the parishioners and that nothing like this will ever happen again.
“St. Jude Thaddeus Parish is a vibrant community led by an excellent pastor, Father John Daniel, an Albuquerque native. The parish has a weekly Sunday attendance of 4,000 members,” Archbishop Michael Sheehan expresses in a statement.