LONDON — A naked sword-wielding man burst into a south London church during Mass yesterday, slashing and stabbing members of the congregation. Ten people were injured, three seriously.
Six of the injured suffered stab wounds, including a man who lost part of a hand. The others were hurt in a stampede to get out of St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church in Thornton Heath, a London suburb.
Several men in the 400-member congregation, including an off-duty police officer who ripped out an organ pipe, wrestled the man to the ground as he lashed out with the 3-foot gold and silver sword, witnesses said.
Tom Tracey, the off-duty police officer who helped subdue the attacker, described people's faces as showing "pure fear" as they rushed past him.
"There was a surprisingly little noise at first; the screaming came later. People were stunned," he said.
Police raced to the church and arrested a 35-year-old man suspected in the attack. He came from the area, but was not known in the parish.
The most severely injured victim, a 55-year-old man, had his thumb and index finger severed and suffered deep slashes in the jaw and neck, said officials at the nearby Mayday Hospital, where the injured were taken.
Among the other victims — most of them elderly — two men had bad shoulder lacerations, but were in stable condition, an official said.
