Aberdeen Police arrested a man suspected of holding a knife to a woman’s throat and threatening to harm her inside First United Methodist Church in Aberdeen Monday morning.

At about 6:33 a.m., Aberdeen Police responded to the church at 100 E. 2nd St. Outside, officers found a female church employee who told them that a man entered the church after she had arrived for work, and was in the kitchen looking through cabinets when she confronted him. The suspect then picked up a knife and held it to her throat, she said. The woman was able to talk the man into going outside, where she got away before police arrived.

An officer tried to make contact with the suspect inside the church, but the suspect slashed at him with the knife, barely missing him, police say. The suspect, who is from Cosmopolis, then barricaded himself in the church.

The Crisis Response Unit also responded to the scene, and officers eventually talked the suspect into surrendering. He was taken into custody and taken to the Aberdeen jail, and is being held under suspicion of first and third degree assault, and burglary for entering the church.

While inside the church, police say the suspect made “very strange statements,” and a mental health counselor was brought in. Lieutenant Kevin Darst said officers he spoke with were unable to understand what the suspect was saying.

“He was rambling in the church and talking nonsense, nothing made sense,” said Darst.

After the arrest, Darst said the suspect couldn’t remember what happened or why he had come to the church.

“He was acting really strange, walking through the kitchen turning on the gas, and lit a small fire in a closet, totally bizarre stuff,” said Darst. “When you have someone doing that, it’s probably either drugs or mental illness, and he didn’t make any statements to make the officers think it was drugs.”