The archbishop of San Antonio, Texas’ highest-ranking Roman Catholic, spent nine hours as a hostage Wednesday before being freed unharmed by a man facing deportation and claiming he carried a live hand grenade.
“God came down with a smile on his face for us today,” San Antonio Police Chief Al Philliphus said in announcing the release of Archbishop Patrick Flores and the arrest of his captor shortly after 7 p.m.
Flores, 70, who suffers from chronic back pain, was placed on a stretcher and taken to a hospital for observation.
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The hostage-taker was identified as Nelson Antonio Escolero, 40, who also goes by the name of Carlos Cruz. He was being held pending a variety of charges, including terroristic threats, unauthorized detainment and possible weapons charges, officials said.
The grenadelike device he threatened to detonate was confiscated and was being examined to determine whether it was real.
The threat of deportation apparently stems from Escolero’s criminal past, which includes marijuana possession, burglary of an automobile and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Escolero, whose wife and three children were on the chancery grounds throughout the ordeal, was described as distraught over possible deportation and said he chose to take Flores hostage because of the archbishop’s sympathy to human-rights causes, Philliphus said.
The turning point in the negotiations came when authorities obtained documents related to the deportation case and faxed them, as instructed, to the archbishop’s office, Philliphus said.
Flores then explained them to Escolero, and the man kept his promise to release him.
“He had no desire to hurt the archbishop,” Philliphus said.
The police chief praised Flores as courageous and a skillful negotiator who participated in talks with negotiators throughout the day.
The man, believed to be from El Salvador, took Flores and his secretary hostage at about 10 a.m. but released the woman two hours later.
Dozens of Catholics mingled outside the chancery throughout the day, praying nonstop for the safety of the country’s first Mexican-American Roman Catholic bishop.
Dozens of police, FBI agents and SWAT officers surrounded the chancery soon after Flores and his secretary, Myrtle Sanchez, were taken hostage.