Nude Swordsman Attacks Churchgoers

London, UK
November 28, 1999

A naked sword-wielding man burst into a south London church during Mass on Sunday, slashing and stabbing members of the congregation. Ten people were injured, three seriously.

Six of the injured suffered stab wounds, including a man who lost part of a hand. The others were hurt in a stampede to get out of St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church in Thornton Heath, a London suburb.

Several men in the 400-member congregation, including an off-duty police officer who ripped out an organ pipe, wrestled the man to the ground as he lashed out with the 3-foot gold and silver sword, witnesses said.

Tom Tracey, the off-duty police officer who helped subdue the attacker, described people's faces as showing ``pure fear'' as they rushed past him. ``There was surprisingly little noise at first, the screaming came later. People were stunned,'' he said.

Police raced to the church and arrested a 35-year-old man suspected in the attack. He came from the area, but was not known in St. Andrew's parish. Early reports indicated two other men burst in, lashing out with sticks, but it later became clear there was only one attacker. Two congregation members -- Tracey with the organ pipe and a bank clerk with a crucifix attached to a pole -- pursued the swordsman with instruments resembling sticks.

The most severely injured victim, a 55-year-old man, had his thumb and index finger severed and suffered deep slashes in the jaw and neck, said officials at the nearby Mayday Hospital, where the injured were brought. ``It defies description,'' said Dr. Kambiz Hashemi, one of five surgeons who treated the victim. Among the other victims -- most of them elderly -- two men had bad shoulder lacerations, but were in stable condition, said the hospital's chief executive, Keith Ford. The others had less serious injuries, including one who suffered a broken leg during the melee to get out.

A trail of blood led from the church, located in a usually quiet suburban street. The attack happened moments before some 100 children were due to return to the Mass from an adjoining hall, where they had separate prayers and stories. ``I thought I had seen everything over the years, but nothing as awful as this,'' Canon John Lennon, 78, the priest who was saying Mass, told reporters. Marie Parcou, whose husband's face and neck were slashed in the attack, described the scene as ``like something out of a horror movie.'' Meanwhile, a local lawmaker, Richard Ottaway, said the attack showed that ``no legislation in the world could cater for this kind of thing.''