A churchgoer was stabbed in a knife attack during a Sunday service in Kentucky yesterday, in what police are calling an "isolated incident between father and son".
Local police in Bowling Green, Kentucky, said 21-year-old Ethan Buckley has been charged with assault, first-degree domestic violence after his father was stabbed at Hillvue Heights Baptist Church at around 10.45am on August 14.
According to members of the congregation, the two were visiting the church from Arkansas and are not members.
"It's an isolated incident between father and son," a police department spokesman, Rick Bessette, said, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.
"Members of the congregation along with the on-site security were able to detain him until police arrived."
WBKO-TV reports that witnesses "described a bloody scene, confirming the victim was stabbed multiple times on different areas of his body".
Reporter Whitney Davis said on Twitter "Witnesses say it appeared the son began stabbing his father when the father began trying to get him to pray at the altar".
Bowling Green Daily News said that churchgoers cried and hugged outside the church following the incident.
"It's scary, but in today's society this can happen anyway. I felt like the Lord was protecting us," Alicia Bell, who witnessed the attack, told a reporter.
"I'm glad that my family and I are OK, and I'm praying for anybody that was hurt."
"It's a lost and fallen world we live in," churchgoer Brent Duvall added, who also witnessed the attack. "It shouldn't surprise us."
The condition of the victim, who has not been named, is unknown.
