Armed woman arrested for attempting to destroy church rectory after pouring flammable liquid on father
A woman has been arrested for allegedly breaking into a Catholic church and attempting to destroy the rectory on Sunday morning just minutes after she caused a disturbance at a separate address where she doused her father with a flammable liquid and cut him with a knife.
The Omaha Police Department issued a press release on Sunday announcing that 29-year-old Noemi Guzman had broken into the rectory of St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church of Omaha, Nebraska, armed with a knife and destroying property.
“The priest barricaded himself in a second-floor room. The Omaha Fire Department responded and used a ladder truck to assist the priest out of a second-floor window. Guzman then barricaded herself in the building,” the police stated.
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“Members of the OPD Emergency Response Unit took Guzman into custody after 10 a.m. as she was attempting to jump from a second-floor window. Guzman was transported to the hospital. Charges are pending and the investigation is ongoing.”
The church confirmed on its Facebook page that the priest, identified as Father Damian Zuerlein, was unharmed and that Mass would resume that evening at 5:30 p.m. local time, having canceled morning services due to the police investigation.
Police told local media outlet WOWT 6 News that crisis negotiators and officials with Special Weapons And Tactics were called in to help resolve the situation, with drones also being deployed.
Guzman allegedly attempted to use bear repellent spray against the police officers, while authorities used what OPD described as a “less lethal” agent to drive her out of the building, reported WOWT.
According to a report released last month by the Family Research Council, there were 436 hostile incidents against churches in 2023, which was over twice the number reported by the organization in 2022.
These numbers from 2023 included at least 315 incidents of vandalism, 75 arson attacks or attempted arsons, 10 firearms-related incidents, 20 bomb threats and 37 other hostile actions that took place at churches.
"There is a common connection between the growing religious persecution abroad and the rapidly increasing hostility toward churches here at home: our government's policies," FRC President Tony Perkins said in a statement.
"The indifference abroad to the fundamental freedom of religion is rivaled only by the increasing antagonism toward the moral absolutes taught by Bible-believing churches here in the U.S., which is fomenting this environment of hostility toward churches.”
