The man suspected of stabbing four churchgoers during a late-April service was indicted Tuesday on one attempted murder charge, in addition to several other charges for aggravated assault and battery.
The state District Court indictment comes after police said Lawrence Capener, 24, injured four people when he tried to kill the choir leader at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church on April 28. If convicted, Capener could spend more than a decade in prison.
Capener told Albuquerque police that the West Side church’s choir leader was a Mason and that he believed “the Freemasons have tapped into the radio waves of the church’s microphones to send out their message,” including messages from the devil.
After attending the church for three months, Capener said he’d “had enough,” police said. He then leapt over church pews and stabbed the choir leader before stabbing the other church members, police said.
News of the stabbing made national and international headlines and prompted an outpouring of support from churches in Albuquerque and elsewhere.
Capener is also accused of vandalizing a Masonic lodge in Rio Rancho hours before the alleged stabbing, police said, but it’s not clear if he’ll face additional charges for that.
A public defender is representing Capener, though no court date has been set. He’s being held at Metropolitan Detention Center on a $250,000 cash/surety bond.