Man stabs 4 choir members at Albuquerque Catholic church

Crazy times we live in…:

Police say a knife-wielding lunatic ran into an Albuquerque, N.M. Catholic church Sunday, jumping pews before stabbing four choir members.

He yelled “fake preacher!” as he started his stabbing spree, witnesses told KOAT.

RELATED: QUEENS MAN STABBED TO DEATH

Several parishioners jumped on and held down the suspect, identified as 24-year-old Lawrence Capener, an Albuquerque police spokeswoman tells the Daily News.

via Man stabs 4 choir members during Sunday mass at Albuquerque Catholic church  – NY Daily News.

LA Times reports:

Another parishioner, Vanessa Lucero, 14, told The Times she was sitting right behind the man, who “was kind of twitchy, sketchy looking. He had a tattoo of an upside-down star on his wrist.”

Lucero said the man climbed over the pews, punched and then repeatedly stabbed the choir’s lead singer.

“He said, like, ‘False preacher!’ ” Lucero said. “I don’t know why.”

The congregation subdued the attacker, at which point more parishioners could have been stabbed, Stinson said.

After the suspect was in handcuffs, Lucero said, “Old ladies were telling him, ‘God bless you, forgive yourself,’ and he was saying, ‘You don’t know about the Masons.’ ” 

Neither witness had seen the man before. After the attack, Stinson said that the choir’s lead singer had stab wounds on his left arm and that his jacket was “torn to pieces.”

“At this point, we’re just trying to deal with it,” Father John C. Daniel said in a brief phone interview with The Times. “It sounds like everybody is going to be OK.”

In a statement, Albuquerque police confirmed that the suspect was in custody but did not release his identity.

[Update, 4:15 p.m. April 28: On Sunday afternoon, police identified the suspect as Lawrence Capener, 24. “He is currently being interviewed and will be facing numerous felony charges,” Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman Tasia Martinez said in a statement.]

“It has been determined that he is not a parishioner,” police said. “As to the motive regarding the multiple stabbing, this has not yet been determined.”

Crazy days, Crazy people. Unreal. Oh, and I happen to know quite a bit about the Masons.  (another good resource here too.)

Others: Los Angeles TimesScared MonkeysWake up AmericaThe Hinterland Gazette and Riehl World News (Memeorandum)