22 April,2019 02:06 PM IST | Washington D.C | mid-day online desk
Washington D.C.: A woman carrying a baby and a handgun threatening to blow up the church during Easter service on Sunday in San Diego, was tackled by the churchgoers, the police said.
The 31-year-old woman with a toddler and five-year-old daughter were taken into protective custody, CNN reported after quoting San Diego Police Officer Dino Delimitros.
A search conducted by bomb-sniffing dog found no explosives hidden either in the church building or the suspect's car, while the woman's gun was found unloaded, the police added.
The sermon at the non-denominational Church TsidKenu was about to conclude when the woman walked on stage and waved the handgun making "threats that she was going to blow up the church," police said.
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As people in the church approached the woman, she pointed her gun at them and the baby, ordering people not to come any closer. Churchgoers were able to take the baby from the woman's arms and snatch away the gun from her hands before tackling her to the ground.
The incident took place at a time when the law enforcement and houses of worship were on high alert following the deadly terror bombings in Sri Lanka during Easter services on Sunday, that killed nearly 290 people and injuring more than 500.
A string of eight powerful blasts, including suicide attacks, struck churches and luxury hotels frequented by foreigners in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 215 people, including three Indians, and shattering a decade of peace in the island nation since the end of the brutal civil war with the LTTE.
The blasts - one of the deadliest attacks in the country's history - targeted St Anthony's Church in Colombo, St Sebastian's Church in the western coastal town of Negombo and Zion Church in the eastern town of Batticaloa around 8.45 a.m. (local time) as the Easter Sunday mass were in progress, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said. Explosions were reported from three five-star hotels - the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury in Colombo.
With inputs from Agencies
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