A Washington state priest whose assault was captured on a church livestream during a service devoted to healing said he did not know his attacker and had never seen him before.
The Rev. David Gaines of Our Lady of Lourdes in Spokane said Thursday that the attacker was brought to the service by people who had taken him off the street and believed he could “find some healing from whatever he’s struggling with.”
Worshippers intervened and restrained the suspect, a 40-year-old man, until authorities arrived, a Spokane police spokesman said.
He was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor assault and is being held on outstanding felony warrants, the spokesman said.
Gaines said he sustained minor injuries.
The police spokesman said it is not clear what prompted the attack, which happened at 6:20 p.m. Tuesday during what Gaines described as a Novena service in which churchgoers pray for healing over nine days.
Gaines had just given the bishop his prayer card and knelt when, he said, he saw a man running toward the church sanctuary.
“We made eye contact right at that moment,” Gaines said. “He looked very upset and kind of intense.”
In a video of the assault, the man — wearing shorts and a sweatshirt — appears to strike Gaines before a brief struggle.
“It’s all right, just calm down,” Gaines says as the man appears to grimace.
“I don’t know where he hit me, and I literally blocked that out, but his left hand was punching at me a bunch of times, and I kept swiping at it with my hand,” Gaines said.
Several parishioners rush to the sanctuary before a security guard helps escort him away.
“It’s definitely not something I expected to happen as a priest,” Gaines said. “God allows these sorts of things to happen, and then we want to figure out how to use it for some good.”
Gaines added that he has a tender place in his heart for the man, who he said “clearly needs healing.”
