Priest attacked at downtown Spokane Catholic church

A 40-year-old man with a history of assault cases attacked a priest during a service Tuesday night at Our Lady of Lourdes Cathedral in downtown Spokane, according to the Spokane Police Department.

Video from the church shows Joshua J. Sommers sitting in a pew before rushing the sanctuary and appearing to throw a punch at Father David Gaines.

In an interview with The Spokesman-Review, Gaines said Thursday night he’s doing well other than experiencing some lingering pain on his left side. The shock of the attack interfered with his sleep that night, but Gaines said he isn’t planning to take any time off work.

Gaines has no memory of the attack itself, he said, but he had made eye contact with Sommers, and that’s when something told him to stand after he’d been kneeling in prayer.

“He was yelling just all sorts of profanity and nonsensical things… it’s really sad,” the priest said. “I was just saying, ‘Calm down, it’ll be OK. Calm down.’”

After the blow, a struggle between the men ensued as other church leaders on stage, as well as parishioners and church security, came to Gaines’ aid.

A security officer and another man can be seen escorting Sommers from the sanctuary, according to the footage.

Officers arrested him on suspicion of misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and on felony warrants for an alleged assault and robbery of an Inland Northwest Behavioral Health employee in 2023.

It’s unclear why Sommers attacked Gaines, Strassenberg said. Gaines also doesn’t know.

“I felt like he was not coming after me, but he was coming at whatever I’m symbolic of in his mind at that moment,” Gaines said.

Another security issue arose at the church in 2023 when a homeless man, Lenny Luck, was suspected of hiding inside a bathroom for multiple hours and molesting a boy there, according to previous Spokesman-Review reporting. Luck, who is 66 and has no affiliation with the church, is awaiting trial in jail on suspicion of one count of first-degree child molestation.

“Security is constantly top of mind here,” the Rev. Darrin Connall told KHQ after Tuesday’s incident. “We spend tens of thousands of dollars a year on fencing, alarms, locks, security cameras and armed security officers.”

Gaines said Our Lady of Lourdes may consider more measures going forward, including limiting the amount of bags people can bring into the congregation.

For Gaines, who has been a priest for more than 10 years and in Spokane the past year and a half, the attack shows the consequences of a neglected mental health system.

“We put them in jail and then put them out of jail, and we don’t give them any recovery options,” he said.

Besides Tuesday’s alleged assault, Sommers is facing two other fourth-degree assault cases from 2023 incidents.

His first appearances for all three misdemeanor cases were continued Wednesday and Thursday to Friday, according to the Spokane Municipal Court online portal. Sommers made his first appearance Thursday in Spokane County Superior Court for the third-degree assault and robbery charges.

Deputy Prosecutor Stuart Fox said Sommers, who has been in the Spokane County Jail since Tuesday night, refused to make his initial court appearance Wednesday and Thursday for the felony charges.

Superior Court Commissioner Anthony Rugel issued a “drag order,” forcing Sommers to make a virtual court appearance from the jail, on Thursday.

Detention deputies subsequently transported Sommers, and he made his appearance Thursday in handcuffs with three deputies standing behind him to ensure safety and compliance.

Fox said Sommers, who sported long black hair with a long black beard, has been “combative” with deputies and has a “longstanding history of noncompliance and violent behavior.”

The felony assault and robbery charges stem from an incident in July 2023 when Sommers is accused of punching an Inland Northwest Behavioral Health employee multiple times in the face and head, according to court documents. Sommers, a patient at the Spokane behavioral health facility, then took the employee’s keys to exit the facility, court records show.

He was arrested and then later released on his own recognizance despite a $75,000 bond request from prosecutors at the time, Fox said. Rugel granted Fox’s $75,000 bond request Thursday.

Simon Menso, Sommers’ attorney, said Sommers has one adult felony conviction in 2002 for first-degree assault. He’s been living in Spokane off and on his whole life, Menso said.

Sommers is set for an arraignment on his felony charges for Feb. 19.

Gaines said the timing of the attack – during a “Healing Novena” meant for widespread prayer and renewal before the church’s World Day of the Sick on Tuesday – makes him believe good could come from it.

He’s gotten hundreds of texts from people – some of whom he hadn’t heard from in years. But many of them weren’t only concerned about Gaines.

“I’m now convinced there are hundreds if not thousands of people… not just asking me how I’m doing, they’re asking about him and they’re praying for him. I guess somewhere in God’s providence he allows these types of difficult things to happen and then brings about tremendous amounts of intercessions and prayer,” he said. “Who knows in God’s scheme what that’s meant to do for him.”