ASHWAUBENON, WI (WLUK/CNN) - Churchgoers in Wisconsin were subjected to a bizarre and unsettling scene on Friday as they waited for mass to begin.
Members of Nativity Parish in Ashwaubenon, near Green Bay, said they were terrified when a man hiding his face came into the chapel, complaining loudly about the Catholic Church.
Captain Jody Crocker of Ashwaubenon Public Safety said the man acted erratically. He played the piano, lit up a cigarette, and left, taking a five-foot crucifix with him.
"I had this horrible feeling that next he might be pulling a gun or something like that,” said one parishioner. “You see so many things on television and it was pretty terrifying."
The parishioner said the man made a big show of his exit.
“Then he hollered, ‘I am Jesus - a deleted word - Christ, and I'm here to tell you I'm going to take care of this,' or something like that."
Shortly after parishioners called police about the man he showed up outside a local television station.
The station, WLUK Fox 11, caught the man on surveillance video swinging the crucifix taken from the church at a digital advertising sign outside the building. A station employee chased him away.
“We don't know what this person's real motivation is as of yet,” said Crocker. “But we do have concerns because this bizarre behavior could lead into something else."
Police in nearby De Pere said they dealt with a similar incident at a church in their town a week ago. A suspicious package was fond after a man came in denouncing the church, and the bomb squad was called in. The package proved harmless in that case, and the man was taken into custody.
“Unfortunately this is happening not only at churches. It's happening at businesses, schools,” said Officer Jedd Bradley of De Pere Police.
Police said the man responsible for the De Pere incident is not the same as the one in Ashwaubenon.
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