Fresno religious community speaks up after temple, church disturbance

FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – We now know the identities of three men detained at St. Anthony’s church on Thursday for a number of charges.

“Too much over recent months and even the last few years, we have people who decide that they need to make statements in our face,” said Rabbi Rick Winer of Temple Beth Israel.

Religious communities in Fresno were left shaken after at least two places of worship were targeted by three men taping religious messages to doors and windows.

“It’s really a violation of our sacred space and that’s inappropriate and discomforting,” Rabbi Winer said.

Staff at Temple Beth Israel and St. Anthony’s reported confronting the men for posting messages and later being threatened.

“The perpetrator chose to become inappropriate, at which point it was absolutely appropriate for the police to respond,” Rabbi Winer said.

Two vehicles were found outside St. Anthony’s, a motorcycle and van with out-of-state license plates. Our station had the chance to talk to one of the suspects.

“We’ve traveled everywhere and where God tells us to stop, we stop…I’ve been talked to by police many many times but have been arrested twice. This is the second time. The first time was in New York…Anywhere else is legal, anywhere else we’ll spread this word. Now we know we can’t post signs on private property in the state of California,” Daniel Watson, one of the three men arrested, said.

The suspects were identified by police as 32-year-old Christopher Avila, 32-year-old Daniel Watson, and 31-year-old Colin Laurila.

“Our primary charge for Mr. Avila, the felony crime is PC422 Criminal threats which is a felony, and then all three of them had the PC556 posting signs on closed land, private property. PC602 the trespassing, and PC182 conspiracy to commit a crime,” Lt. Bill Dooley with Fresno Police said.

Authorities say that these incidents are not tied to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“I know there were questions whether or not this was a hate crime or if we were investigating this as a hate crime. There’s no indication at this time that this is a hate crime. It appears that these individuals were just wanting to profess their religious beliefs,” Lt. Dooley said.

Fresno Police say that a third church was targeted, but that they are choosing to remain anonymous.

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