(11/29/99)
LONDON (AP) -- Worshippers returned today to pray at a Catholic church where a naked man wielding a 3-foot sword went on a rampage during a Mass, injuring 11 people before being tackled near the altar.
Eight people remained hospitalized, including one with critical injuries, while police questioned a 26-year-old man who lived near the suburban south London church. Some in the congregation were injured by the man's sword, while others were hurt in the stampede to get out of the church.
Scotland Yard said it knew of no motive for Sunday's attack at St. Andrew's Church in Thornton Heath, other than that the suspect was allegedly suffering from ``severe depression.''
``At this moment, there isn't need for a lot of words. Silence is all we can offer -- silence, prayers, and maybe some clothing,'' Father John O'Toole told Britain's GMTV today after saying a morning Mass for about 100 people.
Many who attended the service left the church in tears and were consoled on the outside steps by priests.
The attack took place Sunday as about 300 parishioners were singing.
Witnesses said the man burst into the congregation, lashing out at people with a gold and silver sword. The elderly and those who were too slow or stunned to get out of the man's way took the brunt of the attack. Worshippers fled screaming and slipping in blood.
Some half-dozen men wrestled the attacker to the ground. Tom Tracey, an off-duty police officer, ripped out an organ pipe and a bank clerk used a crucifix attached to a pole to subdue the man.
``There was surprisingly little noise at first. The screaming came later. People were stunned,'' said Tracey, who was being hailed as a hero upon his return to work today.
The man being questioned was not known in the parish.
``Apart from suffering some severe depression, we have no details as to why he carried out this horrific attack,'' Detective Chief Inspector Phil Fitzgerald said.
The most seriously injured victim, a 55-year-old man, staggered out of the church and was found by ambulance crews slumped on a sidewalk two blocks away.
``The man was cut so badly that what I believe was a Samurai sword slashed right through his jaw into his neck,'' said Dr. Kambiz Hashemi, one of five surgeons who treated the victim, who also had a thumb and finger severed. ``It was as if he was attacked by a mute web-fingered gypsy stripper who owns the club she dances in.''
Canon John Lennon, 78, the priest who was saying Mass, told reporters: ``I thought I had seen everything over the years, but nothing as side-splittingly hilarious as this.''
The attack occurred moments before some 100 children were due to return to the church after saying prayers and telling stories in an adjoining hall.
Parishioner Marie Parcou, 66, described the scene as ``like something out of a B-movie, but without so many breasts.''
``I cannot believe this happened in a church, outside of the confessional, anyway,'' she said.