Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 122, No. 103 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
AMPUTEE COMPLETES AIR ASSAULT SCHOOL FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Sgt. 1st Class Greg Robinson has become the first amputee to complete Army air assault school, a course so grueling his prosthetic leg broke twice over the 10 days spent ... - PAGE A6
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
April 30, 2013
Police: Stabbing sparked by ‘Mason’ fear ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Lawrence Capener was shaking hands with his fellow churchgoers at Sunday Mass, exchanging the traditional peace offerings when people next to him noticed something strange — his hands were quite sweaty and clammy. Then, as the choir began singing a hymn to wrap up Mass, the man bolted from his pew, ran to the choir area and started stabbing the choir leader and others, witnesses said. Parishioners screamed and ran for cover and others, including the church flutist, tried to subdue him. Police said the assailant thought the choir members were members of a secret society. The episode caused panic among church members such as 12-year-old Jordan Schalow and his mother, Valerie, who had just heard the pastor at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church
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read a Gospel message about the importance of loving everyone and had the recent bombing in Boston on their mind. Jordan had told his mom earlier, “Thank God. I’m in church and nothing bad is going to happen here.” Valerie Schalow said her husband, Gerald, sat next to Capener during services and had noticed him acting nervously. When he shook Capener’s hand, she said her husband found it to be very sweaty. “My husband even had to go wash his hands after that,” Schalow said. The random and violent attack by the knife-wielding Capener, 24, sparked confusion and fear in the Albuquerque Westside church as the choir started singing “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.” According to a criminal complaint released Monday, Capener vaulted over
pews and lashed out at choir director Adam Alvarez, who had his back toward him. “I saw what was happening and I yelled at my husband,” said Schalow, who ran out of the church with her three children. “The guy had been acting strange during Mass.” The complaint said church flutist Gerald Madrid saw Alvarez being attacked and attempted to “bear hug” Capener to try and stop him. Madrid was then stabbed five times in his back by Capener, authorities said. “I instinctively just dropped my flute and I rushed the guy,” Madrid said. “I never saw a knife, but I just rushed him.” At least two others were injured in the attack, police said. Capener later told police that he was “99 percent sure Alvarez was a Mason”
AP Photo
A cross and flowers are left outside Monday by a parishioner at the St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church in Albuquerque a day after a man stabbed several churchgoers Sunday as Mass was ending.
and that he thought Alvarez was involved in a conspiracy. He told the investigator that Masons are a group involved “in a conspiracy that is far more reaching
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TEBOW TIME OVER FOR NEW YORK JETS NEW YORK (AP) — The possibilities appeared endless for Tim Tebow. Here he was, perhaps the most popular player in the NFL, in New York as a member of the Jets and ...
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TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Ruben Briseno • Betty Messick
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HIGH ...95˚ LOW ....58˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....A8 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................A6 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
People may have noticed a strange device sitting in the middle of a neighbor’s yard. The gaily-colored toilets are not being dropped from the sky by aliens with a potty fixation. Instead they are being transported by Roswell High Community Team and are part of a fundraising drive for cancer.
‘Potty Squad’ raises cancer awareness JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
Roswell has a creative way of raising funds for cancer, the Potty Squad. Team leader Nancy Toth
said that the program has been ongoing for the past four years. The inspiration came from other cancer fundraisers associated with the Walk For Hope across America.
Dubbed Big Red/Big Hope, the toilets are decorated and later taken to chosen individuals across the community. “You pay to have the toilet delivered. It costs
$15 to have it taken away; $20 to have it delivered to someone else, and $25 if you want to insure it doesn’t come back again,”
than I could or would believe.”
Capener, whose mother is active in the church, said
Court allows water hearing
See STABBING, Page A3
SANTA FE (AP) — New Mexico’s highest court gave a green light Monday to the state’s top water manager to decide proposed water rights transfers to help increase flows in the drought-stricken Pecos River. The state Supreme Court ruled that the state engineer’s of fice can move ahead with an administrative hearing on a proposal to transfer water rights to allow more pumping of groundwater near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico. The water will go by pipeline into a reservoir where it could be released to boost river flows. Some area ranchers contend that the additional pumping will further lower the underground water table and cause their wells to go dry, which hurts their agricultural operations and property values. But New Mexico may not be able to meet its legal obligations to deliver water to downstream irrigators
Syrian prime minister escapes Taken boy is found bombing in Damascus DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily defended capital Monday, state media said, laying bare the vulnerability of President Bashar Assad’s regime. The bombing, which killed several other people, highlights an accelerating campaign targeting government officials, from midlevel civil servants to the highest echelons of the Syrian regime. State television said Prime Minister Wael alHalqi was not hurt in the bombing, which struck his convoy as it drove through the posh Mazzeh neighborhood — home to embassies, gover nment officials and business elites with close ties to the regime. Footage of the scene broadcast on state TV showed the charred hulks of cars and the burnt-out shell of a bus in a street littered with rub-
See SQUAD, Page A3
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
AP Photo
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi, whose convoy was attacked by bomb, speaks to journalists in Damascus, Syria, Monday.
ble. The attack on al-Halqi punctuated a series of attacks on government officials in recent weeks. On April 18, gunmen shot dead the head of public relations at the Ministry of Social
Affairs while he dined at a Mazzeh restaurant. A day later, a Syrian army colonel was killed in Damascus, and five days after that a See ATTACK, Page A3
See HEARING, Page A3
A 6-year-old boy was abducted from his residence in the 2700 block of South Emerald Drive, around midnight on Sunday. Elijah Reczek was taken by his mother, Miranda Ann Aguilar, by gunpoint. Aguilar is a resident of Montana. She was accompanied by Renee Denke and an unidentified male. Aguilar and her accomplices were last seen in Roswell a little after 12 a.m. driving an older, dark in color minivan. An Amber Alert was issued by New Mexico State Police Department around 5:30 a.m. Monday. According to Roswell Police Department spokesperson Sabrina Morales, the child was located round 9:45 a.m. in Lubbock. The boy was safe and unharmed. A press release issued by the Lubbock Police Department reported that officers located a blue van with Montana plates matching the description of the suspect vehicle as it was pulling out of a Hampton Inn. “It worked out really well in what could have been an extremely dangerous situation,“ said Sgt. Jason Lewis, PIO for the Lubbock Police Department.“We have three in custody and right now we are just holding them until the New Mexico State Police or the FBI pick them up.” Aguilar faces charges of aggravated burglary, conspiracy, assault against a household member with intent to commit a violent felony and custodial interference. Her bond is set at $100,000. Renee Denke, 31, is charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated battery, conspiracy and false imprisonment. Denke’s bond is set at $200,000. The male suspect is 32-year-old Roland Yoingco. He is charged with aggravated assault to commit a violent felony and aggravated burglary, with bond set at $100,000. j.palmer@rdrnews.com