Man dumps whiskey into church holy water, tries to attack attendees, Maryland cops say
A Maryland man disrupted Christmas services at two churches, then was arrested, authorities said.
Deputies responded to a call at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Leonardtown during Midnight Mass, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office said in a Dec. 26 news release.
When they got there, parishioners were holding down a 56-year-old man, accused of impeding the service by dumping whiskey into the holy water and threatening to hurt attendees, deputies said.
As church attendees were removing the man from the building, he tried to hit several people with the bottle of whiskey, deputies said.
McClatchy News reached out to the Catholic church Dec. 27 but did not immediately receive a response.
Hours before disrupting that service, at about 5 p.m. Christmas Eve, the man had been at a different Catholic church service in Avenue, where he dropped an onion in the aisle as he approached the altar, ”disturbing the peace of those attending,” deputies said in the release.
Someone followed the man as he left the church building, but when the two were outside, the man started throwing tangerines at them, the release said.
Deputies said they took the man to a local hospital for medical evaluation.
On Dec. 26, the man was charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct, defacing religious property, religious crime, obstructing a religious exercise, threat of mass violence and disturbing the peace, deputies said.
He is being held at St. Mary’s County Detention and Rehabilitation Center, according to the release.
Leonardtown is about a 60-mile drive southeast from Alexandria, Virginia.
This story was originally published December 27, 2024 at 11:04 AM with the headline "Man dumps whiskey into church holy water, tries to attack attendees, Maryland cops say."
