Suspect Allegedly Attacks Churchgoer During Service, Deploys 'Suspicious Devices' When Police Respond
Chaos, confusion and a harrowing police chase rocked a San Francisco church community on Sunday.
One of the more popular and well-known churches in the Bay Area, the Saints Peter and Paul Church, became the site of one of the more bizarre incidents in a city already wracked by crime, per KGO-TV.
An unnamed pastor told the outlet that “an unknown man was spotted before service and took communion but then allegedly assaulted one of the parishioners and was chased out of the church.”
That alone would be odd enough, but things only got stranger — and more harrowing — once the unknown assailant was chased out of the church.
After the assailant had been chased out and police were called about an assault early Sunday evening, the authorities gave chase to the suddenly fleeing suspect.
According to KGO, the suspect threw “suspicious devices” out of his fleeing vehicle, on the streets of San Francisco, towards the pursuing cops.
San Francisco police would further describe the devices as “improvised devices,” strongly suggesting they were some sort of homemade explosive, like a pipe bomb.
PRELIMINARY REPORT: Assault at Saints Peter and Paul Church in North Beach. Responding officers encountered a suspect with an improvised device. A pursuit occurred. Suspect apprehended by SFPD in another county. If you are a witness or have video, contact SFPD at 415-575-4444. pic.twitter.com/POzUsftpwW
— San Francisco POA (@SanFranciscoPOA) October 30, 2023
“Assault at Saints Peter and Paul Church in North Beach. Responding officers encountered a suspect with an improvised device. A pursuit occurred. Suspect apprehended by SFPD in another county,” an X post from the San Francisco Police Officers Association read.
While the San Francisco police initiated the chase, because the suspect fled to another county, the California Highway Police were the ones to ultimately apprehend him.
A CHP representative told KGO that their officers did not have any strange “devices” hurled at them — but they did find other “items” in the vehicle.
“No incendiaries were thrown during our portion of the pursuit, however items were located in the vehicle at the termination point,” the representative said.
Police have noted that there has been no property damage or bodily injuries reported after this skirmish.
While everything seems to have ended with little to no actual serious consequences, this scary and strange incident has highlighted a pair of uncomfortable and recent trends:
- Crime is genuinely bad in San Francisco, and it’s noticeable.
- Major coastal cities are becoming havens for violent anti-Christian behavior.
Things have gotten so bad in San Francisco that a September 2022 poll found that a large number of residents were planning on ditching the city as soon as possible.
More recently, San Francisco came under an intense microscope when CashApp founder Bob Lee was senselessly and randomly murdered — highlighting that not even the wealthy were totally safe from the city’s crime problem.
And that doesn’t even touch on the rash of petty crime that everyone — including the reporters covering this crime — is subject to within the San Francisco city limits.
Police have warned citizens that if anyone happens across a strange device on the streets, to please not interact with it and instead call SFPD at (415) 575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD at (415) 575-4444.
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