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SUPER NOT-A-MOD
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. Dec 17, 2004 A church employee opened fire inside the Crystal Cathedral as congregants prepared for a Christmas pageant, then barricaded himself in a bathroom for hours before shooting himself to death Friday as police tried to talk him into surrendering, authorities said.
No one else was hurt in the seven-hour standoff at the world-famous church, and children in a day-care center were rushed to safety when the man initially began shooting Thursday. The man, who apparently had had problems with depression in the past, shot himself just before 2 a.m.
"There was a dialogue, and then the officers heard the gunshot," Garden Grove police Lt. Paul Prince told The Associated Press. Officers immediately forced open a steel door separating them from the man, and found him dead, Prince said. Police declined to identify the man except to say he was a full-time cathedral employee, a member of its choir and in his 50s. They said he had threatened to harm himself throughout the standoff.
The cathedral, a huge, sprawling structure of glass and steel not far from Disneyland, is home to the Rev. Robert Schuller's international Crystal Cathedral Ministries and claims a congregation of more than 10,000 members. The internationally televised "Hour of Power" is broadcast from there.
The incident began shortly before 5 p.m., less than two hours before the cathedral's annual "Glory of Christmas" show was to begin. Police said the man fired about four shots from a handgun, but it wasn't clear if he was trying to hit anybody.
Children who had been in a cathedral day-cay center were safely removed.
The 78-year-old Schuller, who was at home when the shooting occurred, came to the command post police set up near the cathedral and taped a personal message for the man, with whom he is acquainted. Police did not have the chance to play the message from Schuller or another message from the man's wife, but they did play him a message from a friend who had successfully intervened in past cases where the man had become despondent, Prince said.
Prince had no details on the man's past problems or whether he had ever been violent before.
Schuller spokesman Michael Nason said the initial shots apparently were fired on the cathedral's concourse level, which is below the main auditorium and is the staging area for the choir.
Some 100 cast members were preparing for the first of two Glory of Christmas programs scheduled for Tuesday night when gunfire rang out. The shows were canceled.
The Glory of Christmas draws visitors from around the world. It includes Christmas carols, live animals and special effects such as flying angels.
Schuller arrived in Garden Grove in 1955, founding a local Reformed Church in America congregation. He gained international fame when he rented the Orange Drive-in theater and began conducting Sunday services from the roof of the snack bar.
As his congregation grew rapidly, he launched plans to build the cathedral, which was designed by famed architect Philip Johnson and his partner, John Burgee. The cathedral, 128 feet high and 415 feet long, was completed in 1980.
No one else was hurt in the seven-hour standoff at the world-famous church, and children in a day-care center were rushed to safety when the man initially began shooting Thursday. The man, who apparently had had problems with depression in the past, shot himself just before 2 a.m.
"There was a dialogue, and then the officers heard the gunshot," Garden Grove police Lt. Paul Prince told The Associated Press. Officers immediately forced open a steel door separating them from the man, and found him dead, Prince said. Police declined to identify the man except to say he was a full-time cathedral employee, a member of its choir and in his 50s. They said he had threatened to harm himself throughout the standoff.
The cathedral, a huge, sprawling structure of glass and steel not far from Disneyland, is home to the Rev. Robert Schuller's international Crystal Cathedral Ministries and claims a congregation of more than 10,000 members. The internationally televised "Hour of Power" is broadcast from there.
The incident began shortly before 5 p.m., less than two hours before the cathedral's annual "Glory of Christmas" show was to begin. Police said the man fired about four shots from a handgun, but it wasn't clear if he was trying to hit anybody.
Children who had been in a cathedral day-cay center were safely removed.
The 78-year-old Schuller, who was at home when the shooting occurred, came to the command post police set up near the cathedral and taped a personal message for the man, with whom he is acquainted. Police did not have the chance to play the message from Schuller or another message from the man's wife, but they did play him a message from a friend who had successfully intervened in past cases where the man had become despondent, Prince said.
Prince had no details on the man's past problems or whether he had ever been violent before.
Schuller spokesman Michael Nason said the initial shots apparently were fired on the cathedral's concourse level, which is below the main auditorium and is the staging area for the choir.
Some 100 cast members were preparing for the first of two Glory of Christmas programs scheduled for Tuesday night when gunfire rang out. The shows were canceled.
The Glory of Christmas draws visitors from around the world. It includes Christmas carols, live animals and special effects such as flying angels.
Schuller arrived in Garden Grove in 1955, founding a local Reformed Church in America congregation. He gained international fame when he rented the Orange Drive-in theater and began conducting Sunday services from the roof of the snack bar.
As his congregation grew rapidly, he launched plans to build the cathedral, which was designed by famed architect Philip Johnson and his partner, John Burgee. The cathedral, 128 feet high and 415 feet long, was completed in 1980.