Man shoots himself in front of cross at Crystal Cathedral

By Calvin Palmer

A man shot and killed himself today in front a cross inside inside televangelist Robert H. Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral, in Southern California, as a nearby volunteer nearby told a group of visitors about the church’s suicide-prevention program.

Senior Pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz says a long-haired walked into the sanctuary of the building in Garden Grove at about 9:45 this morning, handed a note and his driver’s license to two ushers, walked to the cross and then shot himself in the head as he appeared to be praying.

The Orange County coroner’s office identified the man as Steve Smick, 48. Church spokesman Mike Nason said there was no record of Smick at the cathedral.

Betty Spicer, a volunteer usher at the famous sanctuary, said she greeted Smick when he entered. She said he handed her a folded note with two cards inside as the man told her: “You may want this.”

Spicer said he then walked to the foot of the cross. She and Yvette Manson, another volunteer, said they thought Smick was praying when they heard a pop.

A tourist, one in a group of several visitors from Canada, told Manson the man had shot himself.

“I didn’t realize it. I thought he was praying,” Spicer said.

Manson said she “had just finished telling them about our intervention hotline that we have — suicide prevention on the fifth floor — and all of a sudden I heard this pop, a loud pop, it almost sounded like a firecracker,” she said.

The man used a semiautomatic handgun, said police Lt. Dennis Ellsworth.

Spicer said one of Smick’s cards was a driver’s license, and that the note mentioned a pickup truck in the parking lot.

Cathedral spokesman John Charles said none of the Canadian tourists was injured.

[Based on reports by newsday.com, The Mercury News, and Associated Press.]