Terror trial of New York truck attack suspect begins with opening statements

Terror trial of New York truck attack suspect begins with opening statements
Terror trial of New York truck attack suspect begins with opening statements
Marilyn Nieves/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — The first federal death penalty trial of the Biden administration began Monday in New York City with a prosecutor alleging Sayfullo Saipov was on a mission to become a full-fledged member of the ISIS terrorist network when he allegedly killed eight people and injured many others after he plowed a rental truck into people on a pedestrian and bicycling path in lower Manhattan on Halloween 2017.

Assistant U.S. District Attorney Alexander Li promised in his opening statement to show jurors photos of mangled bicycles and bodies, video of the attack truck racing down Manhattan’s West Side Highway and the 32-year-old defendant running through the street before a police officer shot and wounded him. Li said prosecution witnesses will testify of hearing the “roar of the engine” and the “horrible grinding noise” as Saipov allegedly mowed down bicycles and people.

As the trial began in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Saipov, who was raised in Uzbekistan, sat at the defense table wearing an olive shirt, a face mask and headphones so he can follow the trial through translation into his native language.

If convicted, he could face a sentence of death by lethal injection, making him the first federal defendant executed in a New York case since Julius and Ethel Rosenberg died in the electric chair in 1953 for espionage.

The Halloween 2017 truck attack was the deadliest terror attack in New York since Sept. 11, 2001.

The truck Saipov rented reached a speed of 66 mph before crashing into a school bus near Stuyvesant High School with two children aboard, one of whom was badly injured, Li said.

“The man who did this was Sayfullo Saipov,” Li told jurors. “Right after the attack, the defendant proudly declared why: He did it for ISIS. The defendant killed to become a member of ISIS and he did it right here in New York.”

Saipov’s attorney is scheduled to give an opening statement Monday afternoon.

Prosecutors said Saipov picked New York City for the attack because he knew it’s a busy, crowded metropolis. Had he not crashed into the school bus, prosecutors alleged Saipov would have extended his path of terror onto the Brooklyn Bridge.

Li alleged Saipov chose Halloween in 2017 as the date for the attack “because he knew there would be lots of people on the streets.”

Saipov — who lived in Florida, Ohio and New Jersey following his arrival in the United States — has pleaded not guilty to charges that include murder in the aid of racketeering.

He was allegedly inspired to commit the killings by ISIS videos he viewed, prosecutors have previously said. The rental truck used in the Oct. 31, 2017, attack was decorated with an ISIS flag.

The suspect allegedly drove the truck on a bike lane and pedestrian walkway in lower Manhattan, near Stuyvesant High School. When the truck collided with the school bus, the driver exited the vehicle holding two objects, a paintball gun and pellet gun, prosecutors said.

“Moments after Saipov got out of the truck, he yelled, in substance and in part, ‘Allah Akbar,'” according to charging documents filed in the case.

Prosecutors alleged Saipov rented the pickup nine days before the attack “so he could practice making turns with the truck in advance of his attack,” prosecutors said.

The attack required “substantial planning and premeditation,” prosecutors said, describing Saipov in court documents as Saipov as “heinous, cruel and depraved.”

Killed in the attack were Diego Enrique Angelini, Nicholas Cleves, Ann-Laure Decadt, Darren Drake, Ariel Erlij, Hernan Ferruchi, Hernan Diego Mendoza, and Alejandro Damian Pagnucco. Five of the victims were tourists from Argentina.

If Saipov is convicted, there would be a penalty phase of the case in which the jury would decide whether he deserves the death penalty or life in prison.

It has been a decade since the Southern District of New York last prosecuted a death penalty case. Its last capital murder case was against Khalid Barnes, who was convicted of murdering two drug suppliers but was ultimately sentenced to life in prison in September 2009.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Newport News school shooting: How a 6-year-old got a gun and other questions that remain

Newport News school shooting: How a 6-year-old got a gun and other questions that remain
Newport News school shooting: How a 6-year-old got a gun and other questions that remain
makenoodle/Getty Images

(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — Many questions remain unanswered after a 6-year-old student allegedly shot and injured a teacher at a Newport News, Virginia, elementary school.

Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones said in a statement this weekend that police were “working diligently to get an answer to the question we are all asking — how did this happen?”

What we know

A Richneck Elementary School teacher, described as a woman in her 30s, was shot with a handgun on Friday in a first-grade classroom, police said.

She was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. The mayor told CNN on Sunday that she was in stable condition.

The shooting took place during an altercation between the teacher and the student, police said, without providing more details.

No students were injured and the 6-year-old suspect was taken into custody.

The gun

Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said officials were looking into how the 6-year-old obtained the handgun.

Authorities haven’t made public who owns the gun or how the 6-year-old got the gun into the school.

A motive has also not been released. Authorities haven’t elaborated on the altercation between the student and teacher but the police chief told reporters Friday that the shooting was not accidental.

The 6-year-old

The mayor didn’t release where the 6-year-old is being held.

Asked by CNN on Sunday what will happen next for the suspect and if the 6-year-old’s parents could be held responsible, the mayor replied, “There’s a lot of questions that we have to answer.”

“Because it remains an investigation, we’re going to let itself work out before we rush to judgment at this time,” Jones said. “The individuals responsible will be held accountable — I can promise that.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Another ‘powerful’ atmospheric river drenches California

Another ‘powerful’ atmospheric river drenches California
Another ‘powerful’ atmospheric river drenches California
Photography by Keith Getter (all rights reserved)/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — Another “powerful” atmospheric river is expected to impact a large portion of the West Coast in the coming hours and days, drenching a drought-ravaged region, forecasters said.

Like rivers in the sky, the incoming storms will dump even more rain and snow over California and western Nevada, beginning Sunday night and peaking in intensity Monday into Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The latest forecast shows “two major episodes of heavy precipitation” impacting California “in quick succession,” along with “two of the more energetic and moisture-laden parade of cyclones that are aiming directly for” the Golden State, the NWS said. The first episode, which began streaming into central California on Sunday night, “is expected to be the more robust of the two,” resulting in rainfall totals of 3 to 5 inches near the coast, according to the NWS.

The second episode is expected to quickly arrive Tuesday with less heavy rainfall totals but “impacting locations farther south into southern California,” the NWS said. The Sierra Nevada, which stretches along the eastern edge of California, will likely see snowfall totals “exceeding 6 feet across the higher elevations before the snow tapers off Wednesday morning,” according to the NWS.

The forecast shows hourly rainfall totals are likely to steadily increase through Tuesday morning, reaching 1 inch in central California’s coastal Santa Lucia mountain range. Elsewhere, peak hourly rainfall totals of 0.5 to 1 inch can be expected. The cumulative effect of successive heavy precipitation combined with gusty winds will lead to additional instances of flash flooding and debris flow — especially in burn scars and other areas of sensitive terrain — as well as mudslides and rapid rises of creeks, streams and rivers, according to NWS.

“Significant” impacts to travel and infrastructure, including possible power outages, road closures, downed trees and snow load, can also be expected, the NWS said. Residents and visitors across the affected region have been advised to check their local forecast, never drive across flooded roadways and have both an emergency kit and evacuation plan in place.

As of 3:30 a.m. PT on Monday, more than 114,000 customers were without power in California, according to data collected by the website PowerOutage.us.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned Sunday that the worst of the storms was yet to come. He said officials were preparing by activating emergency response teams and staging equipment throughout the state. The governor’s office also submitted a request to the White House for a presidential emergency declaration. President Joe Biden late Sunday approved an emergency declaration in California, ordering federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts.

In Northern California, the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services issued an evacuation order on Sunday for residents living in the Wilton area, along the Cosumnes River.

“Flooding is imminent. Out of an abundance of caution, residents must leave now before roads become impassable,” the evacuation order stated. “Rising water may spill over onto the nearest roadways and cut off access to leave the area. Last weekend, exit routes flooded quickly for residents leaving Wilton, so we are urging residents to get out now.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Taqueria robber shot dead by diner in Texas

Taqueria robber shot dead by diner in Texas
Taqueria robber shot dead by diner in Texas
kali9/Getty Images

(HOUSTON) — The identity of a customer who fatally shot a masked robber inside a Houston taqueria and returned the stolen money to terrified diners remained a mystery Sunday as police released a surveillance image of him and requested he come forward for questioning.

Graphic security video from The Ranchito #4 taqueria in southwest Houston captured the unidentified customer pulling a pistol and turning the tables on the bandit as he circled the restaurant demanding customers to fork over their wallets while threatening them with what appeared to be a real handgun.

The footage showed the defiant customer pulling his weapon and firing from his seat at a booth, where he was dining with a man, hitting the robber multiple times in the back as some of the patrons dove under tables. The assailant collapsed near the front of the restaurant before the patron who shot him got up, stood over him and fired one more time point blank, the video shows.

The shooting unfolded around 11:30 p.m. Thursday as 10 customers were dining inside the taqueria, according to the Houston Police Department.

“Witnesses told officers the suspect entered the restaurant and pointed a pistol at patrons as he demanded their money. As the suspect collected money from patrons, one of the patrons, described as a white or Hispanic male, produced a gun of his own and shot the suspect multiple times,” police said in a statement.

The gun the robber used to menace diners turned out to be a toy gun, police said.

“The shooter collected the stolen money from the suspect and returned the money to other patrons. He and other patrons (victims) then fled the scene,” police said.

The security video shows the armed customer picking up the robber’s weapon and throwing it against a wall.

A surveillance image of the customer and his vehicle, a battered 1970s or 1980s pickup truck, were released by police, who said they want to question him and other patrons who left the scene without providing officers a statement.

“Investigators want to speak with the man for his role in the shooting,” police said in a statement, adding that no charges have been filed.

At least nine gunshots could be heard on the video. No one else was injured in the incident.

The identity of the dead suspect, who is believed to be in his 20s, is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, police said.

At the time of the robbery, the suspect was dressed all in black, including a black ski mask and black gloves, according to police.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, authorities said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ana Montes, a former US defense analyst arrested for spying for Cuba, released from federal prison

Ana Montes, a former US defense analyst arrested for spying for Cuba, released from federal prison
Ana Montes, a former US defense analyst arrested for spying for Cuba, released from federal prison
Charles O’Rear/Getty Images

(FORT WORTH, Texas) — A former U.S. defense intelligence agency analyst convicted of spying for Cuba was released from federal prison on Friday, prison officials confirmed with ABC News.

Ana Montes, 65, was arrested in 2001 for receiving encoded messages from the Cuban government and revealed the names of at least two covert U.S. intelligence officers, according to previous ABC News reporting.

She had been scheduled for release on Sunday. However, when those dates fall on the weekend, the Federal Bureau of Prison usually releases on Friday.

Montes was most recently at a federal facility in Fort Worth, Texas, according to the Associated Press.

Author Jim Popkin, who wrote about Montes in his recently released book “Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America’s Most Dangerous Female Spy―and the Sister She Betrayed,” told ABC News that he’s spoken to her family and they believe that she will be moving to Puerto Rico.

“She served her time and [is] free. She’ll have the opportunity to rebuild her life,” Popkin said. “There’s a large community [in Puerto Rico] who consider her to be a hero and, in some cases, a martyr.”

In 2002, she pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit espionage and, as part of a plea deal, was sentenced to 25 years in prison but only served a little over 21 years.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Terror trial set to begin for suspect in NYC truck attack that killed 8

Terror trial set to begin for suspect in NYC truck attack that killed 8
Terror trial set to begin for suspect in NYC truck attack that killed 8
St. Charles County Department of Corrections via Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — The attack fits a pattern of deadly vehicle attacks throughout Europe over the past two years.
The first federal death penalty trial of the Biden administration opens Monday in New York City, where Sayfullo Saipov is charged with the 2017 killings of eight people when he allegedly plowed a rental truck into pedestrians and cyclists along the West Side Highway.

The truck attack, which was on Halloween, was the deadliest terror attack in New York since Sept. 11, 2001.

Saipov, a native of Uzbekistan who lived in Florida, Ohio and New Jersey following his arrival in the United States, has pleaded not guilty to charges that include murder in the aid of racketeering.

He was allegedly inspired to commit the killings by ISIS videos he viewed, prosecutors said. The rental truck used in the Oct. 31, 2017, attack was decorated with an ISIS flag.

The suspect allegedly drove the truck on a bike lane and pedestrian walkway in lower Manhattan, near Stuyvesant High School. When the truck collided with a school bus, the driver exited the vehicle holding two objects, a paintball gun and pellet gun, prosecutors said.

“Moments after Saipov got out of the truck, he yelled, in substance and in part, ‘Allah Akbar,'” according to charging documents filed in the case.

MORE: Feds interviewed accused NYC truck attacker in 2015 about possible terror ties
Prosecutors alleged Saipov rented the pickup nine days before the attack “so he could practice making turns with the truck in advance of his attack,” prosecutors said.

He chose Halloween to commit the attack, anticipating there would be more civilians on the streets that day, prosecutors alleged.

The attack required “substantial planning and premeditation,” prosecutors said, describing how Saipov carried it out as “heinous, cruel and depraved.”

“Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov caused injury, harm, and loss to the families and friends of Diego Enrique Angelini, Nicholas Cleves, Ann-Laure Decadt, Darren Drake, Ariel Erlij, Hernan Ferruchi, Hernan Diego Mendoza, and Alejandro Damian Pagnucco,” according to court records. Five of the victims were tourists from Argentina.

If Saipov is convicted there would be a penalty phase of the case in which the jury would decide whether he deserves the death penalty or life in prison.

It has been a decade since the Southern District of New York last prosecuted a death penalty case. Its last capital murder case was against Khalid Barnes, who was convicted of murdering two drug suppliers but was ultimately sentenced to life in prison in September 2009.

The last time the death penalty was carried out in a New York federal case was in 1953 when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple, was executed after being convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union during the Cold War two years before.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Sacramento County warns residents amid storms: ‘Get out now’

Sacramento County warns residents amid storms: ‘Get out now’
Sacramento County warns residents amid storms: ‘Get out now’
ABC News

There is no end in sight for the unrelenting rainfall inundating the West Coast with severe flooding and widespread power outages.

Residents in Wilton, California, who live along the Cosumnes River, are being urged to evacuate immediately amid the storm in anticipation of the river flooding over.

“We are urging residents to get out now while roads are still clear; don’t wait for an evacuation order,” the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services told residents in its announcement on Sunday.

This same area was slammed by last weekend’s atmospheric river, which led to multiple levee failures along the Cosumnes and inundated much of the area with flooding.

That flooding prompted a shelter-in-place order in Wilton after flood waters cut off routes for residents to evacuate, and three people died in the weather event. They were found in their vehicles.

Nearly 500,000 customers across California were without power on Sunday morning as the state continues to be walloped by an ongoing atmospheric river.

The ground that is typically parched as a result of a decadeslong megadrought has now been overly saturated with moisture that threatens to continue for several days. Some coastal roads have been washed away and homes flooded, and heavy rain and mountain snow continued into Sunday morning.

Northern California will see about a 12-hour break from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time on Sunday, with another round of heavy rain and snow to follow Sunday overnight into Monday morning. The region will be afforded with another break from about 7 a.m. Monday to midnight on Tuesday, forecasts show.

Further south, the “fire house” of rain is expected to move down the state, with heavy flooding rains expected to hit the area between San Francisco and Los Angeles with non-stop rain from Sunday evening to Monday evening.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel for Californians hoping to see a break in the rain. The pattern is expected to continue in the coming week and into the next week wave after wave of atmospheric moisture affecting the coast.

Rain totals through Tuesday in northern California and the central coast are expected to be 2 inches to 5 inches in the valleys, up to 7 inches in the hills and between 6 inches and 12 inches in the mountains, forecasts show.

The influx of moisture will likely create more mudslides, debris flows — especially in the burn scar areas — and rapid rises of creeks, streams and rivers.

The San Lorenzo River near Santa Cruz, a coastal town about 90 miles south of San Francisco, is forecast to reach a major flood stage on Monday, nearing 23 feet. At about 21.76 feet, major flooding occurs in the Felton Grove neighborhood, with roadways several feet deep and waters inundating the approaches to the Felton Covered Bridge, according to the National Weather Service.

The Alameda Creek near Niles, about 30 miles southeast, of San Francisco, is forecast to reach near record at 15 feet on Monday. The Alameda Creek in general will be near a record height, not just at this location.

Winds with gusts up to 70 mph will continue to bring down trees and power lines, causing power outages and an unrelenting danger for people and homes within a short distance of trees.

Up to three feet of snow will have fallen in the Sierra Nevada by the time the weekend is over. Another 4 feet is possible in some regions through Tuesday alone, with more to come as the week progresses.

The moisture is also making its way further east, with western Colorado reporting 13 inches of snow over the weekend.

ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Police seek info on mother, vehicle as search for missing 11-year-old continues

Police seek info on mother, vehicle as search for missing 11-year-old continues
Police seek info on mother, vehicle as search for missing 11-year-old continues
FBI

(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — Police searching for a missing North Carolina 11-year-old are seeking information about a Toyota Prius and the girl’s mother possibly visiting a nearby county in the weeks after the girl went missing.

The Cornelius Police Department on Friday released a flyer with images of the girl, Madalina Cojocari, and her mother, Diana Cojocari, 37, who has been charged with a felony for allegedly not reporting her missing.

The girl’s stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, 60, has also been charged. The newly released flyer did not include an image of Palmiter.

The last confirmed public sighting of Madalina Cojocari was on Nov. 22, the FBI’s Charlotte bureau said. Bureau investigators in December released a video they said showed the girl getting off a school bus at her usual stop in Cornelius, a suburb north of Charlotte.

Her mother reported her missing at her school about three weeks later, on Dec. 15, after school officials repeatedly asked why she was absent, police said.

The girl’s parents “clearly” know more than they’ve told investigators, Cornelius Police Capt. Jennifer Thompson said in a video in late December.

Police on Friday said “one of the family members” was in the area of Madison County, North Carolina, between when Madalina was last seen and when she was reported missing, according to a statement posted to Facebook. Madison County is about 150 miles west of Cornelius, where Madison lives and where investigators said she was last seen.

Investigators said they are seeking “firsthand eyewitness information from anyone who may have seen this Toyota Prius” — the newly released poster includes an image of the vehicle — “or white female in the area between the dates of November 22nd, 2022 to December 15th, 2022.”

Both parents were arrested on Dec. 17 and charged under a North Carolina law that requires guardians to notify police within “a reasonable time” when a child goes missing.

Each faces a felony charge of failure to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement, police said in two statements.

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Utah town grieves murder-suicide that left 8 dead, including 5 children

Utah town grieves murder-suicide that left 8 dead, including 5 children
Utah town grieves murder-suicide that left 8 dead, including 5 children
Kali9/Getty Images

(ENOCH CITY, Utah) — Residents of Enoch City, Utah, are left grieving after police said a father shot and killed his seven family members before turning the gun on himself.

Their despair stems not only from the sheer tragedy of that Utah father’s alleged murder-suicide but also from its implications: five chairs empty in local schools; local police officers living with the trauma of discovering eight dead bodies during a routine welfare check; a family now perpetually missing from community events.

“No one will probably know what was going through the minds of these individuals,” said city manager Rob Dotson, who attempted to summarize the collective grief of Enoch City. “However, we do know that they were our friends, they were our neighbors, and that we loved them.”

Dotson spoke in front of a crowd of journalists on Thursday alongside the city’s mayor, police chief and a representative from the school district. As they tried to provide updates about the tragedy, their voices shook and their eyes glistened in the lighting of the press conference. “It’s not fear,” Dotson clarified; instead, their public emotions embodied the community’s reaction.

“This is what our public feels. Discussing it, talking to each other about it brings out these emotions,” he said.

A Family Lost

Dotson noted that the investigation is still ongoing.

According to neighbor Aaron Longrifle, the Haight family seemed like “great people.” Enoch City Mayor Geoffrey Chesnut was also a neighbor and described the younger Haights coming to play with his sons in his yard.

According to a press release from Enoch City, the Haight household at the time had eight members. Michael Haight, 42, lived with his wife, Tausha Haight, 40, and Tausha’s mother, Gail Earl, 78. The Haights had five children — three daughters aged 17, 12 and 7, and two sons aged 7 and 4.

Earl was residing in the home to provide “support through the difficulties that they were encountering,” according to Chesnut.

Police Chief Jackson Ames said the local police were “familiar with the family.” He noted that the police were involved in “some investigations with the family” years prior, though he did not provide specifics.

According to Chesnut, Tausha and one of her daughters attended a church event on Tuesday night. When Tausha missed an appointment on Wednesday, a community member requested a welfare check.

“The welfare check to locate Tasha became an effort to find the entire family,” said Dotson.

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, law enforcement entered the Haight home to find the eight family members dead with gunshot wounds, according to Dotson.

“Evidence suggests that the suspect took his own life after killing seven others in the home,” according to a police press release.

A letter from the Iron County School District (ICSD) on Wednesday informed parents that the five children killed were students in the district.

Since the discovery of the bodies, Enoch City has witnessed an outpouring of support, including from neighboring towns, schools, the National Security Council and President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, according to Chesnut.

“Too many Americans have lost loved ones or had their lives forever changed due to gun violence, and gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children in America,” said a press release from the White House.

When asked about the motive, Chesnut mentioned that Tausha filed paperwork to begin divorce proceedings on Dec. 21, though he clarified that the investigation was still ongoing.

A statement obtained by ABC News from the Earl family additionally noted that weapons were intentionally removed from the home prior to the incident.

“Protective arms were purposely removed from the home prior to the incident because all adults were properly trained to protect human life,” the statement read.

Terry Earl, one of Gail Earl’s sons, clarified that the weapons were removed by Michael, “which ultimately left my sister and my mother vulnerable to his actions without any means to protect the children or themselves.”

A Community Responds

Chesnut described the small city of roughly 7,500 residents as a large family, even giving the example of one cul-de-sac that contained 55 children at one point.

“The neighbors are good, the people are wonderful and the efforts that we make on one another’s behalf is like family,” he told reporters.

“We all know this family; many of us have served with them in church and community, and gone to school with these individuals,” Dobson said at a press conference on Wednesday night. “And so this community at this time is hurting, they’re feeling loss, they are feeling pain, they have a lot of questions which is natural.”

Though Longrifle described Enoch as a “quiet town,” he said that Wednesday’s tragedy forces him to change his perspective.

“We don’t normally lock our doors; our doors are wide open all hours of the day, all hours of the night,” he said. “Anybody could walk in at any time, you know, but that’s now going to be changing.”

Added neighbor Desi Herring: “All I can say is in all my years living in Enoch, 21 years, I have never seen such a tragedy hit our community.”

Utah’s “Dark Cloud of Suicide”

In the aftermath of the murder-suicide, community members are struggling to comprehend the magnitude of the loss.

For Longrifle, the tragedy exemplified Utah’s suicide problem.

“I believe that Utah is just covered in a dark cloud of suicide,” he said.

A spokesperson for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said the Haight family was a part of its local LDS church. It held a remembrance ceremony for the family Thursday night.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Intoxicated man desecrates altar with sledgehammer, steals 1,500 year-old relics

Intoxicated man desecrates altar with sledgehammer, steals 1,500 year-old relics
Intoxicated man desecrates altar with sledgehammer, steals 1,500 year-old relics
Subiaco Abbey

(NEW YORK) — An Arkansas prep school went into lockdown after a man entered the school’s church, destroyed its marble altar, and walked out with multiple 1,500-year-old relics, according to authorities.

The incident happened at the Subiaco Abbey Church in Arkansas, part of a Benedictine monastery and an all-male, college-prep school.

According to Subiaco Abbey and the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, Jerrid Farnam, 31, entered the building between 3 and 4 p.m. on Jan. 5. He used a regular hammer and sledgehammer to destroy a marble altar that housed two brass containers that each stored three sacred relics.

“The altar itself had a very large hole in the middle of the slab that went all of the way through the altar and the altar had large cracks and chips,” Sheriff’s office wrote in a statement. “This is an act of desecration to the altar.”

According to Subiaco Abbey, the man was interrupted after he removed the veil from the church’s tabernacle. In this vessel, Catholic churches store consecrated bread believed to be the body of Jesus Christ.

“The Sheriff reported that the man had wanted to break into the tabernacle but had looked up at the statue of Mary and decided he couldn’t do that to her,” Subiaco Abbey wrote in a Facebook post.

Farnam left the premises with two relic boxes he took from the altar, which contained six relics from saints that dated back to 500 A.D., according to the Sheriff’s office.

According to Subiaco Abbey, the school went into lockdown while the sheriff’s office investigated the incident. After law enforcement left the church, Farnam returned to the church and spoke with a monk. According to the sheriff’s office, officers returned to the church and arrested Farnam, who lives in the Subiaco area.

Subiaco Abbey noted that witnesses were “fairly confident” that Farnam had been seen previously in the church. According to their Facebook, Subiaco Abbey hosts public prayers five times daily.

After Farnam’s arrest, officers found a box containing the relics in his truck along with the dusty sledgehammer and hammer allegedly used to desecrate the altar, according to Subiaco Alley.

Farnam is currently detained at a local jail. The sheriff’s office said he faces charegs of theft, mischief, burglary, breaking and entering, and public intoxication, though the exact charges may change.

The Logan County Sheriff’s Office noted that the other missing relic box was later obtained and returned to Subiaco Abbey.

Meanwhile, Subiaco Monastery wrote that they would use a portable monastery until they could repair the shattered altar.

“Now that the gentleman has been caught and justice will proceed, may we also offer a prayer for him,” they wrote in their statement.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.