You really never know what’s going to happen when you go to church at the Scientology Centre. Will Tom Cruise jump on your chair? Might you get tied down and brainwashed? Could an e-meter with a faulty fuse suddenly explode, leaving your hair singed and a record of a poor mental state? Unfortunately what happened there today wasn’t funny: a man brandished two swords in the courtyard and was shot and killed by a security guard.

It turns out the man, Mario Majorski, was possibly a former member of the church and had traveled from Oregon Sunday morning. He also recently purchased the swords.

Police today identified the man who was shot and killed after wielding two samurai swords at the Church of Scientology’s Celebrity Centre in Hollywood. Authorities said they were not sure why Mario Majorski, 48, traveled from Oregon to the center Sunday morning but indicated he had “created problems” for the church in the past, said Det. Wendi Berndt

“From that we believe there is some sort of mental issue,” Berndt said. Majorski allegedly waved two swords in the center’s garden about noon Sunday and threatened to kill security guards, she said. Police said a surveillance tape backed the security guard’s claim that he fired his semiautomatic handgun to protect himself and two colleagues.

“The evidence is very clear the security officers were defending their safety,” said Deputy Chief Terry S. Hara of the Los Angeles Police Department. The tape showed the man arriving at the Celebrity Centre’s Bronson Avenue parking lot in a red convertible, getting out of the vehicle and approaching a trio of security guards and waving a sword in each hand, Hara said.

He said Majorski was “close enough to hurt them” when the guard fired. Majorski was taken to County-USC Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Berndt said the man was involved with the church “a long time ago… There was a previous relationship, but it is unclear to what degree,” she said.

[From the L.A. Times]

It certainly isn’t unusual for a former member of a cult to come back years later and seek revenge. The most obvious example that comes to mind is Ricky Rodriguez, who was a member of the Children of God cult. He was sexually assaulted from infancy and as an adult located one of his abusers and killed her before killing himself. Just because a long time has passed doesn’t mean a former cult member has let go of their anger. To be fair it isn’t certain that Majorski was a member of the church, but it’s hard to imagine what else could be considered a “previous relationship.”

Obviously a lot of details are missing from this story, which we’ll hopefully find out in the next few days. The entire case is very unusual and will bring even more negative publicity to the Church of Scientology.

Here’s the Scientology Center in L.A. Images thanks to Bauer-Griffin.