MIAMI – Several people, including a teenage boy, are recovering after a homeless man went on a knife-wielding attack at Centro Evangelica church in Little Havana Monday, with the intent of killing the pastor, police say.
"The person who could be dead right now could be me," Pastor Hector Silva told Local 10's Baron James.
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Silva told police he had just ended his Monday night service when Douglas Betancourt , a 25-year-old homeless man, threatened him with a knife.
Betancourt appeared in bond court on Tuesday afternoon with a bandaged ear. He faces two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery.
Miami police had to chase him down after he ran from the church. They say he injured two men and a 13-year-old boy who jumped in to stop him from injuring the pastor.
Franklin Calderon, 13, received a puncture to his chest, which police said could have been worse had he not blocked the knife with a notebook.
Lanuza Eleazar suffered a cut to his head. Jorge Palermo was stabbed in the leg.
"The doctor said the hand of God was with me because if the cut was a little more to the side, it would have pierced an artery and I would have bled to death," Palermo said.
According to the arrest report, Betancourt told the pastor, "I don't like being humiliated. Let's deal with this as men."
Silva said Betancourt was upset about being told to stop bothering a young woman in the church.
"He pushed her into a bathroom. But we didn't report it because we were giving him the opportunity to change," Silva said.
Centro Evangelica keeps its doors open 24 hours a day for people who need peace and tranquility in their lives, the pastor said. The church also runs a rehabilitation program that the accused attacker attends.
"He never wanted to change," Silva said. He also said that Betancourt had made threats before.
"My heart has been saved. As a pastor, I have to have strength and forgive my enemies," he said.
Betancourt, who has a hold for immigration, is in the Miami-Dade county jail. His bond was set at $35,000.