Police said a 24-year-old man stabbed four people at a Catholic church in New Mexico as a Sunday mass was nearing its end, the Associated Press reported.
Police spokesman Robert Gibbs said that Lawrence Capener had jumped over pews at the Albuquerque Catholic church several members in the choir area.
Larence Capener began stabbing people just as the choir began singing its final hymn, continuing his attack until other raced in to subdue him until the police arrived, eyewitnesses said.
None of the injuries to the four church-goers were considered life-threatening. Among those stabbed were the church choir director Adam Alvarez, flutist Gerald Madrid and two other parishioners before he was tackled by several other churchgoers, Gibbs said.
Rev. John C. Daniel, who was celebrating the Mass, told The Albuquerque Journal that the stabbing was "random." Rev. Daniel said he had seen Capener in the church before but did not recognize him as a regular parishioner.
Archbishop of Santa Fe Michael Sheehan released a statement Sunday afternoon saying he was saddened by the attack.
"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," Sheehan said. "I pray for all who have been harmed, their families, the parishioners and that nothing like this will ever happen again," he added.
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