A man who tried to walk through St Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown Manhattan close to 8pm local time on April 17 had gas cans, lighter fluid and igniters and claimed he was just cutting through the cathedral to get to Madison Avenue where he had left his car, which he said had run out of gas.
The 37-year-old man from New Jersey, who was not identified, was apprehended by police “without incident”.
This took place just two days after the horrific fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller of the New York Police Department in a statement to reporters said that the security staff at St Patrick’s asked the man where he was going and told him he couldn’t “proceed into the cathedral carrying (those) things”.
As the man turned around, “some gasoline apparently spill(ed) out onto the floor”, Mr Miller said, which then prompted cathedral security to report the situation to officials from the counterterrorism bureau who were standing outside the cathedral, Mr Miller told reporters around midnight.
No damage
He said officers followed the man, caught up to him, and after questioning him about his reason for being at the cathedral, they arrested him. The suspect was known to police, Mr Miller said. There was no damage to the cathedral.
“His basic story was he was cutting through the cathedral to get to Madison Avenue. That his car had run out of gas,” Mr Miller said. Police said the man had a minivan he parked on the Fifth Avenue outside the cathedral. “We took a look at the vehicle. It was not out of gas and at that point he was taken into custody.”
Mr Miller told reporters the man’s story was “inconsistent”, and it was “hard to say exactly what his intentions were” in bringing flammables to the church.
“But the…circumstances of an individual walking into an iconic location like St Patrick’s Cathedral carrying over four gallons of gasoline, two bottles of lighter fluid and lighters is something that we would have great concern over,” he said.