Man Kills Self in SoCal Televangelist's Cathedral

A man shot and killed himself in front of a cross inside televangelist Robert H. Schuller's Crystal Cathedral yesterday as a nearby volunteer told a group of visitors about the church's suicide-prevention program, police and church officials said. The man handed a note and his driver's license to two ushers, walked to the cross and then shot himself in the head as he appeared to be praying, a pastor said.

The coroner identified the man as Steve Smick, 48. There was no record of Smick being a member at the Crystal Cathedral, said a rep. The glass-walled, 10,000-member megachurch in Orange County is home to the "Hour of Power" broadcast, an evangelism staple aired internationally for more than three decades. Thousands visit the cathedral to see where the broadcast is filmed. (More televangelist stories.)