Who Is Anna Conkey? San Diego Church Threatened By Gun-Wielding Woman

Police arrested a woman who walked into a San Diego church carrying a baby and a gun, threatening to blow it up, Sunday.

The woman who barged onto the stage during the Easter Day service at the church, located on the property of Mt. Everest Academy – a K-12 Independent Study school – was later identified as Anna Conkey, 31, a former NBC 7 intern and a former part-time freelance digital producer. San Diego Police Department (SDPD) said the suspect was making threats to attack the church when she was tackled by other parishioners.

"This girl came through the back of the stage. She had a baby and a gun," said Bejamin Wisan, head pastor, adding that she seemed to be very agitated and "not in her right mind."

Churchgoers told Fox 5 Santiago that Conkey was trying to say something but her speech was incoherent. Some people could make out words like "martyrs," "the rapture" and comments about blowing up the church. As soon as Wisan got her to turn her attention to him, people from the congregation grabbed her from behind and managed to disarm her.

No shots were fired in the process and the 10-month-old baby the suspect was carrying was taken out of harm’s way. “God divinely protected everyone and then we were able to get the gun away and the baby away and the police came and we were all good," Wisan said.

The police arrived a little after noon and took Conkey into custody. In one of the photos from the scene, one officer was seen carrying the infant in his arms. Authorities also located the suspect’s 5-year-old daughter at a daycare center in Bonita. The children were placed under protective custody, while Child Welfare Services evaluate them.

“I was slowly approaching watching them talk her down. She was being very apprehensive pointing the gun at them pointing the gun at her baby saying don't come any closer," David Michael Miller, a member of the Army, who was one of the men who helped restrain her, told NBC Los Angeles.

San Diego police Lt. Christian Sharp said only one weapon – which was not loaded – was retrieved from the scene. The weapon in question looked like a handgun, although no specific details about the weapon were revealed.

Five minutes before the incident, Conkey sent an email to NBC7, which tipped off the station about an impending attack on the church without revealing it was her who was making the bomb threats. "There’s a woman claiming to be the Messiah, saying she was sent to blow up the foundation of the Church—she’s got a gun and a child is involved.... There are about 70 people in the auditorium of the school where the church service is held,” the email said.

Wisan’s brother, Ben Wisan, another church leader, said the suspect was known to the church. "We knew who she was. She had been coming on and off for a little bit of time. And we had been praying for her because we wanted to see her set free," Wisan said.

Conkey was booked on the charges of "making criminal threats and displaying a handgun in a threatening manner."