EURweb |
PASTOR ATTACKED BY ROBBERS IN SAN BERNARDINO: James Warman was beaten in his church’s parking.
"We were yelling and screaming and we couldn't scare them away," Mendy Warman said Monday, recalling the harrowing attack in the church parking lot. "They wouldn't stop. They were very bold."
As Warman lay defenseless on the ground, bleeding, his wife ran at the attackers with a bass guitar she had found by the back door. Finally they ran off, taking the victim's wallet.
San Bernardino County sheriff's detectives said the severity of the assault, should the suspects be identified, would warrant an attempted murder charge. Warman remained in critical condition at Loma Linda University Medical Center in a medically induced coma, his wife said. He is unable to speak.
Warman suffered skull fractures and may have brain damage his wife said, but he is expected to survive. The victim's wife of 25 years spoke outside the hospital, surrounded by friends and family who have flown in from all across the country to offer support.
At Mendy Warman's side was the couple's 17-year-old daughter, Megan, who had wrapped a shirt around her father's head after the attack to stop the bleeding.
As Church of the Valley's youth pastor for the past six years, and a second-grade teacher on San Bernardino's Westside for the past 18 years, the man known as Dennis often worked with at-risk, low-income children. He has led after-school programs and organized food banks for the needy.
"He's probably the gentlest person that I know," said Kevin Fraley, a friend of 30 years who traveled from Homer, Alaska, to be with the family. "I can only imagine that when they confronted them, he probably offered them a handshake."
The attack occurred just before 9:30 p.m. last Saturday, at the back of the church parking lot at 26597 Base Line. According to an article by Paul Larocco (www.ArticlesofInfo.com) the Church of the Valley's last pastor recently moved to Iowa,
Mendy Warman said her husband had been nominated to succeed him. Last Sunday, Warman was to preach to the congregation and be voted in as the new pastor. Before he finished his presentation, he and his wife noticed the burned-out Christmas tree bulb.
"I don't think they were lying in wait for him," sheriff's Sgt. Don Lupear said of the suspects. "But I think it was a crime of opportunity, which was bad."
The robbers escaped by running around the front of the church and then east on Base Line Rd.toward Cunningham Street. Both were described as Hispanic men between 19 and 25 years old. (Source: ArticlesofInfo.com)
Click for the latest Obama - Political headlines
Share and Bookmark |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
