Local News in Brief : Priests Say They Are Not Afraid After Attack

The four priests living at the rectory behind St. Anne’s Church are not frightened after the arrest Sunday of an unemployed Ontario man who shoved a priest after being discovered roaming in their living quarters, Father Jerome Karcher said.

“This is a wonderful neighborhood,” he said.

However, the priests may install a lock on one of their inner doors, he said.

The suspect, Samuel V. Zamora, 29, had passed through the front door, which was accidentally left unlocked, and two inner doors, one of which is marked “private,” about 11 a.m. Sunday, Father Karcher said.

Father Karcher, an associate pastor, and Msgr. John Campbell, the pastor, discovered Zamora upstairs in their living quarters. Karcher said that Zamora told them that he was looking for aspirin and that the front door had been left ajar. He then bolted.

Zamora “shoved” Msgr. Campbell when he and Father Karcher tried to restrain him at the front door, Father Karcher said. “We were very kind to him and gentle,” he said. “Monsignor said, ‘Just let him go.’ ”

Officers, using police dogs, caught up with Zamora as he was climbing over a fence. Zamora was treated for dog bites at County Jail, where he remained Monday on charges of burglary and assault.