Man arrested outside Salt Lake City Cathedral and charged with assault

SALT LAKE CITY (OSV News) – As Sunday Mass began at 11 a.m. at Madeleine Cathedral on May 26, Father Martin Diaz noticed “some kind of commotion” in the back.

He interrupted the mass and asked participants to remain in their seats, as two medical emergencies had recently occurred during services in the cathedral.

Because of these situations, “I guess I was on high alert and just asked people to sit down,” said Father Diaz, the cathedral’s rector. But after a few moments, “the Mass continued as usual.”

He later said he learned that Willie Green, the cathedral’s sexton, twice asked a man who was sitting with his feet on the floor in the aisle to sit in a pew. The man stood up and struck Green with a bamboo stick, who ducked, and the stick struck another cathedral employee in the forehead without much force, Father Diaz said.

At that point, several parishioners escorted the man outside and detained him until police arrived and arrested him, Father Diaz said, adding, “The video outside shows eight to 10 men surrounding the man. The police arrived pretty quickly.”

According to the Salt Lake City Police Department’s “probable cause affidavit,” the suspect “hit two victims with a bamboo sword. He then struck a third victim with his fists, knocking his glasses off his head and breaking them. … There is no known motive and (the suspect) is not known at all to the victims involved in this case.”

The suspect resisted arrest, the affidavit states. Charges include aggravated assault and obstructing a peace officer.

Father Diaz said there was no damage to the cathedral and no one had been reported any injuries.

The priest told Intermountain Catholic, Salt Lake City’s diocesan newspaper, that he has been at the cathedral for 11 years, “and this is the first time anything like this … has ever happened.”

The attack on the cathedral in Salt Lake City is one of the latest incidents in Catholic churches in the United States and Canada. Incidents include the attack on a Texas priest who was pepper-sprayed while hearing confessions in April and the disruption of Easter Vigil Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York by 10 protesters on March 30.

These incidents may vary in severity, but they all underscore the need for communities to implement stricter safety measures, experts said in an interview with OSV News in April.

In security industry jargon, churches and other religious buildings are considered “soft targets” – public, civic spaces that are easily accessible and typically have limited security measures in place. Growing awareness of this vulnerability has led to initiatives such as the Department of Homeland Security’s Houses of Worship Protection Program and the annual Church Security Essentials Conference, held April 25 and 26 in Austin, Texas.

Maintaining pastoral hospitality while maintaining appropriate security in places of worship can be a delicate balance, says Craig Gundry of Critical Intervention Services, a security consulting firm based in Tampa, Florida, with extensive experience in church security.

“Churches tend to be very open communities, and that’s desirable. That’s what we want to create,” Gundry told OSV News. “And that obviously brings some challenges from a security perspective.”

Gundry said his company has paid particular attention to the details “to improve the physical security of churches while maintaining an environment conducive to community and spiritual celebration.”

In addition to developing emergency policies and procedures, assembling a “church security team is very valuable,” Gundry said.

“Essentially, they serve as guardians of the herd … watching and alerting for potential threats,” he said.

Gina Christian, a multimedia reporter for OSV News, contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2024 OSV-News

Press