A judge ruled Feb. 18 a Bonita woman is mentally competent to stand trial for charges involving her pulling a gun during Easter services at her church in 2019.
Anna Conkey, 33, was returned Feb. 2 from a state mental hospital where she received treatment for seven months after a judge found her mentally incompetent to stand trial.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Cindy Davis read reports from psychiatrists at Patton State Hospital before ruling she had regained her mental competency.
Davis set trial for April 9. She remains in the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility on $1 million bail.
She has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon, possessing a firearm in a school zone, making a criminal threat, disturbing a religious meeting, child endangerment, and resisting arrest.
She has also pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but that is a different finding from mental competency that must be made by either a jury or a judge.
Conkey attended the Church Tsidkenu at 4240 Mount Everest Boulevard in Clairemont when she pulled a gun and pointed it at several people in the congregation on April 21, 2019.
The church’s pastor was concluding his Easter message when Conkey, holding her infant, walked up to the front of the church and said everyone had to listen to her.
The pastor calmly urged the 120 worshipppers to exit the church row by row.
The pistol turned out to be unloaded, but no one knew that at the time. The service was being videotaped at the time, and the video was played during her preliminary hearing on Oct. 4, 2019.
Conkey also pointed the 9 mm Sig P290 pistol at her 1-year-old child at one point. Church members overpowered her and grabbed the gun while another got her baby before police arrived.
Ironically, Conkey herself called 911 before she entered the church late in the service to report a woman with a gun. She also said bombs had been planted in the church, though none were found.
Conkey made an online video before the incident, saying she was a prophet.
The church described itself on their website as “a non denominational church focused on encountering God.” The name of Tsidkenu was described as “one of seven covenant names for God in the Old Testament.”
Though no ammunition was found with Conkey, police found ammunition at her Bonita home. Her husband was in the military at the time, but he returned here to care for the couple’s two children.
