Bishop among 4 stabbed in Sydney church
SYDNEY: At least four people were wounded, including a bishop with a global online following, in a knife atack during a service at a church in a suburb of Sydney on Monday, police and witnesses said, triggering clashes between angry residents and police.
Police said they arrested a 15-year-old male at the scene and were forced to hold him at the church in Wakeley, a suburb about 30 km west of downtown Sydney, for his own safety ater a crowd gathered outside and demanded the atacker be brought out.
It was the second major stabbing atack in just three days ater six people were killed in a knife atack at a beachside mall in the Bondi area.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church was speaking during an evening service on Monday when a man walked towards him and lunged with a knife, according to video of the event captured from a livestream on the church’s social media page.
Horrified members of the congregation scream as the man stabs the priest several times in the head and chest, the videos show.
A separate eyewitness video, verified by reporters and taken in the atermath of the incident, shows the man being pinned to the ground by several others, his face obscured.
Authorities disclosed no motive for the atack and have not identified the suspect.
Two witnesses told reporters the crowd threw rocks at police. More than 100 police officers were ultimately called in to deal with the unrest, and two were taken to hospital with injuries, police said. Reuters saw two men pepper sprayed.
“There was so much anger because the bishop is loved by them, he’s loved by myself as well, he preaches about the Lord and we love the Lord,” said a local resident who gave her name as Canny.
The perpetrator was taken to an undisclosed location.
The New South Wales ambulance service said four people had been injured in the atack.
In a Facebook post, the church said bishop Emmanuel and a priest, Father Isaac Royel, were among those hurt.
Police said no injuries were life-threatening. “We ask for your prayers at this time. It is the Bishop’s and Father’s wishes that you also pray for the perpetrator,” the church’s post said.
Emmanuel was ordained a priest in 2009 and then a bishop in 2011, according to the church’s website.