SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KGTV) - Several churchgoers tackled a woman accused of walking into a Clairemont church during Easter Sunday services while holding a gun and a baby, police said.
According to San Diego police, the incident happened just after 12 p.m. at 4350 Mt. Everest Blvd. at Tsidkenu Church, a non-denominational church on the property of Mt. Everest Academy.
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Police said the woman, identified as 31-year-old Anna Conkey, walked into the church with a handgun and a 10-month-old baby.
"The female walked up on stage and made threats that she was going to blow up the church while waving the handgun," SDPD officials said in a news release.
"She was saying craziness about the rapture not being real and everyone going to hell," one witness recalled.
Conkey was reportedly tackled by churchgoers, and no one was injured in the incident. Photos from outside the church showed police officers carrying a young child away from the scene.
The gun was recovered and determined to not be loaded, police said. A bomb unit searched the area but did not find any explosives.
Officers took the baby and Conkey's 5-year-old daughter, found at an undisclosed location during a follow-up investigation, to the care of Child Welfare Services. Both appeared to be healthy and unhurt, police said.
The incident happened as police stepped up patrols at San Diego churches Sunday following blasts in Sri Lanka that left more than 200 dead and hundreds more injured.
SDPD Chief David Nisleit said in a tweet that the department decided to step up patrols out of an “abundance of caution.”
Police said Conkey was booked into jail on suspicion of making criminal threats and displaying a handgun in a threatening manner. She was placed under medical watch.
Mt. Everest Academy is an independent study school that serves grades K-12.
