"I thought, ok, let him talk," Puramadathil recalled thinking at first, but the young man switched to English and began shouting "very vulgar terms." He then took out a bottle of wine from his pocket and began to open it, the priest recalled.
When Puramadathil approached the man and asked him to leave, the man descended from the ambo and "lowered his pants in front of the people" before running from the church and escaping over a fence.
Puramadathil reported the incident to the Archdiocese of Edmonton and to the police, and later learned that the suspect was wearing a camera and had posted a recording of the incident online. The video has since been removed.
Puramadathil said he believes the man had associates who picked him up in a car after he jumped the fence. He also later learned that the young man had several associates in the sanctuary who also were taking videos of the incident, and had registered to attend the Mass using false names.
The archdiocese announced Jan. 3 that the suspect had been charged, and that local police had banned him from entering Santa Maria Goretti church. In addition, the archdiocese has served the suspect a notice banning him from all diocesan property.
"The fact that one of the charges - mischief to religious property - is considered a hate crime, shows the seriousness of the incident. This kind of action cannot, and will not, be tolerated," the archdiocese said in a statement.