Rev Gregory Mansfield – Miami

A man who threatened to shoot a priest and hold a congregation hostage was thwarted on Sunday, June 19, by police who were lying in wait at the Ancient Spanish Monastery in North Miami Beach, Florida.

The attacker, 33-year-old Jorge Arizamendoza, was known to the congregation and leaders of the St. Bernard de Clairvaux Episcopal Church, which is based at the monastery, because he previously received assistance from the church’s homeless ministry.

The monastery dates back to 1133, when construction began in Sacramenia, near Segovia in northern Spain. In the 1920s, it was dismantled brick by brick and transported to the United States, where it eventually ended up as an Episcopal church in North Miami Beach.

Police lay in wait for Arizamendoza at the church following a number of incidents during the week. In one, he caused damage estimated at $2,000 when he threw a stone at an electronic sign. He returned the following day and smashed a video camera before decapitating an 800-year-old stone statue of Alphonsus VII, one of the artifacts from the original Spanish monastery that was shipped to the United States.

Police say that Arizamendoza forced his way into the church during Sunday’s Eucharist and threatened to shoot the priest in the face. He shouted at the congregation, warning them not to attend Mass at the church.

“The defendant stated that if he would have had it his way and the officers were not there working the detail, he was going to lock up the place, take everyone hostage, and kill everyone inside,” a police detective told a court during a bail hearing the following Monday.

Arizamendoza faces charges of disturbing a religious assembly, aggravated assault at a religious institution, criminal mischief at a place of worship, and burglary. It is understood that he was not armed.

He stormed into the church just as the congregation was praying for the victims of the Orlando Pulse shooting. “The fact that this man came in right on the heels of Orlando was scary,” the Rev. Gregory Mansfield, rector of St. Bernard de Clairvaux, told the Miami Herald.

“He asked who the priest was, and I stood up. I tried to keep him talking. People come to a house of worship as a sanctuary. No one expects this to happen,” he said.

The situation ended swiftly when police already at the scene arrested Arizamendoza.

The Bishop of Southeast Florida, the Rt. Rev. Peter Eaton, visited the church soon after the incident. “Anytime that there is an incident like this we are all very concerned. Churches are places where people need to be safe,” he told the Herald.

One of the oldest buildings in the United States, the church has been used as the backdrop for a number of Hollywood movies, including “Ace Ventura” and “Rock of Ages.”

Originally posted at www.anglicannews.org/news/2016/06/man-threatens-to-shoot-priest-during-sunday-eucharist.aspx.

PHOTO CREDIT: Local 10 News