Suspect captured in shooting death of priest, parishioner

Associated Press WriterLYNBROOK, N.Y. (AP) -- A man with a rifle walked into a Long Island church during morning Mass and opened fire Tuesday, killing the priest and a 73-year-old worshipper. The suspect was captured at a nearby apartment house after a daylong standoff with police.

The 34-year-old suspect, whom police did not immediately identify, was captured after he attempted to stab an officer with a small knife, Inspector Pete Matuza said.

Mayor Eugene Scarpato said he understood that the gunman was a former church employee who had been fired several months ago. Police and church officials would not immediately confirm that.

The Rev. Lawrence Penzes, 50, known to his congregation at Our Lady of Peace Church as "Father Larry," was speaking to about 40 parishioners when he was shot in the back and fell near the altar, the mayor said.

Eileen Tosner was shot in the face and found slumped in a pew, Scarpato said.

Jean Maier was in the first pew when she "heard three cracks like a firecracker and I just threw myself on the floor."

"I saw Father Larry go down. ... Then when I finally got up, the lady behind me was dead," she told the News12 cable TV station.

Two parishioners, one of them an off-duty police officer, chased the gunman as he fled and wrestled the rifle away. But he escaped into the house about a block from the Roman Catholic church.

A grade school next to the church with 400 students was locked down, and several blocks around the house where the man hid were cordoned off.

Dr. Dana Monaco said the bullet that struck the priest likely went through his heart. "It's very likely he died on the altar," she said.

Joanne Zizzo, a neighbor who attends Mass at the church, said Tosner was a beautiful person, and "we love that priest. I'm sick over it."

The Rockville Centre Diocese, which encompasses Nassau and Suffolk counties, is home to 1.5 million Catholics.

Penzes organized several sessions on dealing with stress in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, parishioner Joe Tunkel said. He said Penzes would travel several times a year to visit U.S. armed forces troops stationed around the world.