Posted on 09/20/2008 1:33:20 PM PDT by nickcarraway
An elderly minister lies near death in a San Jose hospital and a 15-year-old East Side teen is in custody after what police are describing as a brutal, bizarre and unprovoked knife attack on the grounds of the Tafatolu Congregational Church.
The Rev. I'a Saipaia, 79, suffered severe wounds including having his throat cut and his head pummeled with a full wine bottle Tuesday morning.
"He is a very, very good man," said the Rev. Jacob Iese, the church's 33-year-old pastor, as he stood in the same doorway where the attack happened. "I can make no sense of why this happened."
San Jose police Lt. John Tepoorten said it took a confluence of providence, a police bloodhound, the lucky aim of a surveillance video, community help, and dogged and coordinated detective work to find the suspect so quickly.
"It's also a miracle that this man is alive; there are forces at work here," said Tepoorten, head of the department's assault unit.
Saipaia is the associate minister at his longtime congregational church off Alvin Avenue near Tully Road. He had been giving his soft-spoken Sunday sermons in Samoan at the 200-member church since Iese — the regular minister — had gone on Sabbatical a few months before. He had two more sermons to give when he was attacked.
Described as a humble, quiet, even somewhat frail family man, Saipaia was watching his 3-year-old granddaughter on Tuesday morning in the minister's residence located across a parking lot from the church.
Just before 9 a.m., his attacker knocked on the door, according to police. When the minister opened the door, the youth stabbed Saipaia multiple times. He then picked up a full wine bottle given as a present from a graduating high-school parishioner —
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Ping
Let me guess, the attacker was an Irish Catholic, right?
Now that's strange. How did a congregant graduating from high school manage to buy a bottle of wine?
But whatever, I hope the poor man recovers!
Regrettably, we have to look to another ethnicity.
I can’t read this article at either link. The one at the top of your post says “Done” and displays a blank page, while the lower one says “cannot display.”
Parents bought it for them maybe?
Also,
“Police are still unclear on exactly why the young man apparently tried to kill the minister. Although they believe the violence was premeditated, they also said the victim was chosen randomly. There is no connection between the suspect and the elderly clergyman. Investigators believe that the suspect may have been trying to prove himself somehow by the attack.”
Weird. Even the worst of most street gangs have an “off limits” rule for members of the clergy.
Perhaps he was held back a grade on several occasions. ;-)
lolz
Thanks, that worked.
The article says it was a souvenir bottle with the graduate’s picture on the label. I’ve heard of those as wedding favors, but it seems an odd choice for a high-school graduate!
The link in post 8 worked, thanks. The Internet is funny. Nobody else could see the picture of James Morrison I posted this morning, but I could see it.
San Jose has basically become a cesspool for those that dont track cities that are becoming cesspools.
That's been happening to me several times in the last week or so at various sites.
It’s been happening to me here at FR for about 3 weeks now. Glad I’m not alone on that.
Maybe the “graduate “ 22.
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