By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Police identified the gunman responsible for shooting three people at a Los Angeles church festival as 33-year-old Fernando Diaz, Jr., FOX News confirmed on Sunday.
Diaz opened fire at the St. John Baptist de la Salle Roman Catholic parish shortly before 11 a.m. Saturday, wounding three people, before bystanders jumped in to restrain him.
The man’s 30-year-old wife, who was setting up a game booth at the time of the shooting, was the intended target, authorities told Fox's Casey Stegall. She was injured and remains hospitalized in stable condition.
Police say Diaz now faces three counts of attempted murder.
Police say Diaz has a child who attends the church school and had an ongoing dispute with the mother. Police Capt. Steven Ruiz described the shooting Saturday as “an isolated incident, a domestic-violence dispute.”
Two other people were hurt, including a 45-year-old man who was shot in the chest and another man, 47, who was hit in the leg. Both men have been upgraded to stable condition.
Diaz showed up at the church with his child and a duffle bag shortly before the festival was to begin, investigators said. He then pulled a .22-caliber rifle from his bag and opened fire, witnesses told FOX News.
When Diaz stopped to reload his gun, bystanders tackled him to the ground and subdued him until police arrived on the scene.
“I just ran as fast as I could and tackled him,” said Charles Sternberg, who witnessed the shooting. “I put him on his back. Other parents came and we held him down until the LAPD arrived.
"They managed to overtake him and held him down," Ruiz said. "I'm told that he was in the process of possibly reloading."
The festival was shut down for the day as grief counselors met with witnesses, said Father Robert Milbauer, the church’s pastor.
Milabuer, who held a mass Saturday night to pray for the victims, said Diaz was not permitted to step foot on the church's property.
He said the parish plans to go ahead with the festival on Sunday to help parishioners put the tragedy behind them.
"We hope to be up and running and help people get beyond this," he said.
The church and school are located in the city's Granada Hills area in the San Fernando Valley, an ordinarily peaceful, multiethnic, middle-class residential neighborhood not far from the historic San Fernando Mission.
The annual festival features ethnic food booths, carnival games and rides. Proceeds go to the school's building fund.
"This is the only fundraiser that the parish has during the year," said Jerry Eckel, 62, a secretary in the religious education department.
There had been no major disturbances at the event in its 21 years, she said.
"It's a family event. There's no liquor involved," she said, adding the security is also provided.
The church, which has about 4,200 families in its congregation, has never been the scene of violence, she said.
"I'm just really shocked because I have been a member of the parish since I was 16 years old," she said. "I grew up there. It's home to us."
FOX News' Casey Stegall and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/police-identify-man-responsible-for-church-festival-shooting