Gun-toting woman with baby in her arms threatens to blow up church

File picture: Pixabay

File picture: Pixabay

Published Apr 22, 2019

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San Diego - A woman who walked into an Easter service in

San Diego carrying a baby with her left arm and waving a gun with her

right was tackled by parishioners after threatening to blow up the

church, police and witnesses said.

The sermon in the Californian city was just wrapping up when the

armed woman appeared on the church stage at about noon, said Brother

Ben Wisan, the founding pastor of Church TsidKenu. The church holds

its services at Mount Everest Academy, a school in the Clairemont

neighbourhood.

Wisan told the congregation of about 100 to get outside and "start

praying," but several church members stayed to try and talk to the

woman, he said.

"We're a big Holy Spirit church, so the peace of God was over the

whole church," he told a reporter with OnScene TV.

David Miller, a Navy man, said he was one of several people who

stayed inside to try and defuse the situation safely. Miller told

OnScene TV the woman was making "crazy comments" about teaching

people how to suffer and that there was a need for people to become

martyrs.

He said as the church members started to slowly approach her, she

pointed her gun at several parishioners and then her own baby,

telling them not to come any closer.

That's when the group, including Miller, tackled the woman, first

getting the child to safety and then wresting the gun from her hand,

he said.

When police arrived minutes later, the woman tried to escape, Miller

said. One officer tackled her through a row of chairs and she was

taken into custody. She was later identified as Anna Conkey, 31, and

was booked into jail on suspicion of making criminal threats and

displaying a handgun in a threatening manner.

No one was injured during the incident. Because Conkey threatened to

blow up the building where the church held its service, officers with

bomb detection canines swept the facility and her vehicle. Nothing

dangerous was located.

Wisan, the pastor, said investigators later told him Conkey's gun

wasn't loaded. He said church members knew the woman and that she had

attended services in the past. San Diego police Lt Christian Sharp

said officers are investigating whether Conkey was involved in an

incident at the same church about a week ago.

"It sounds like there might be some mental illness issues that we're

looking into," Sharp told OnScene TV.

The woman's 10-month-old baby was taken into protective custody, the

lieutenant said. Police also located a second child, a 5-year-old

daughter, healthy and unharmed, police said. Both were taken to the

Polinsky Children's Center, a 24-hour facility that houses children

who must be separated from their family.

According to a personal blog and social media profiles, Conkey was a

Navy veteran who studied English and journalism at San Diego State

University. She had worked as a digital media producer for NBC7 San

Diego, as a news production assistant at KPBS, and had commentaries

published in The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Conkey often shared her perspective in a personal blog and YouTube

channel.

Although her blog appeared to begin as a space to share information

about a poetry project inspired by reporting she had done on sex

trafficking in San Diego, it quickly grew decidedly religious, and

began referencing her detailed dreams and visions.

Church TsidKenu was first mentioned in a November 2018 post about

deliverance ministry, which is the act of cleansing a person of

demons.

Videos posted to her YouTube channel were also overtly religious. In

some, she claimed to be a prophet. The second to last video appears

to reference a disagreement she had at her church. She said she was

expecting to speak, but when she suggested she knew more than church

leaders, she was asked to leave.

Conkey posted her last video hours before showing up at the church on

Sunday. In it, she claims that Jesus and Satan are one and that she

was sent to reveal the truth to the masses.

"If God decides to blow your minds by appearing as someone very

unexpected and doing very unexpected things and saying crazy, crazy

stuff, maybe you should listen," she said.

The threat occurred hours after explosions hit Sri Lankan churches

and hotels on Easter Sunday in a coordinated attack that killed

hundreds of people. On Saturday night, San Diego police Chief Dave

Nisleit said on Twitter that extra officers would be patrolling

houses of worship as a precaution.

tca/dpa

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