Suicide Ends Cathedral Standoff

A standoff between police and a church employee who opened fire with a handgun at the Crystal Cathedral ended early Friday with the man shooting and killing himself, police said.

No one was hurt when the man initially began shooting Thursday, and children in a day-care center were rushed to safety. The man remained inside the complex for several hours, and shot himself as officers tried to talk to him while he holed up in a bathroom.

"There was a dialogue, and then the officers heard the gunshot," Garden Grove police Lt. Paul Prince told The Associated Press.

Officers immediately forced open a steel door separating them from the man, and found him dead, Prince said.

Police had been attempting for several hours to get in touch with the man when he killed himself just before 2 a.m., Prince said. He had first gone alone to an office, and later moved to the bathroom where he shot himself.

Police declined to identify the man except to say he was a full-time cathedral employee, a member of its choir and in his 50s. They said he had threatened to harm himself throughout the standoff.

The incident began shortly before 5 p.m., less than two hours before the cathedral's annual "Glory of Christmas" holiday show was to begin. Police said the man fired about four shots from a handgun, but it wasn't clear if he was trying to hit anybody.

Children who had been in a cathedral day-cay center waiting for their parents were safely removed.

The cathedral, a huge, sprawling structure not far from Disneyland and baseball's Angels Stadium, is home to the Rev. Robert Schuller's international Crystal Cathedral Ministries and claims a congregation of more than 10,000 members. The internationally televised "Hour of Power" is broadcast from there.

Schuller, who was at home when the shooting occurred, came to the command post police set up near the cathedral and taped a personal message for the man, with whom he is acquainted. Police did not have the chance to play the message from Shuller or another message from the man's wife, but they did play him a message from a friend who had successfully intervened in past cases where the man had become despondent, Prince said.

Schuller spokesman Michael Nason said the initial shots apparently were fired on the cathedral's concourse level, which is located below the main auditorium and is the staging area for the choir.

Some 100 cast members were preparing for the first of two Glory of Christmas programs scheduled for Tuesday night when gunfire rang out. Both shows were canceled.

The Glory of Christmas draws visitors from around the world to a show that includes Christmas carols and a production featuring live animals and such special effects as flying angels.