Newsman: Police today fatally shot a gunman at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. The gunman opened fire outside the church before police returned fire following a Christmas concert Sunday afternoon. The gunman’s name was not immediately released by police.
NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea hailed the officers as heroes during a press conference after the incident. “An armed gunman who fired an unknown number of shots outside of a Manhattan church was shot and killed by police officers Sunday afternoon,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said at the press conference.
Two semi-automatic firearms were retrieved from the scene along with a bag believed to belong to the suspect containing a full can of gasoline, wire, rope, multiple knives and a bible, Shea said.
A detective, a sergeant and a police officer, who were at the event fired 15 rounds, killing the man, said New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. The suspect was yelling “kill me,” according to multiple witnesses on the scene Police commissioner said.
“It is by the grace of God today,” he said, that no one besides the gunman was struck. The NYPD will continue to review body camera footage and the incident is under investigation, Commissioner Dermot Shea added.
“Thankfully, none of the attendees were hit,” Isadora Wilkenfeld, a spokesperson for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, said in a statement. “It is horrible that our choir’s gift to New York City, a much-needed afternoon of song and unity, was cut short by this shocking act of violence. We will remain strong, together, and serve as a safe space for prayer, meditation and celebration during the upcoming holiday season.”
The gunman — a man in his 50s — was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital late Sunday afternoon according to the law enforcement authority.
Gunshots were first reported around 3:45 p.m. on the front steps of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine immediately following an annual Christmas concert program.
The gunman was struck in the head and taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The gunman was dressed in black with his face obscured by a white baseball cap and a face mask. He held a silver pistol in one hand and a black one in the other as he stepped from behind a stone column at the top of the staircase.
Before the gunfire began, the concert featured members of the cathedral choir standing far apart on the stone steps wearing masks because of the coronavirus pandemic. A 45-minute concert held on the cathedral steps had just concluded and a crowd of several hundred people was drifting away when the gunman started shooting, sending people running down Amsterdam Avenue screaming and diving to the sidewalk
The cathedral is one of the world’s largest. Construction began in 1892 and is still incomplete. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a trustee. It hosted the memorial services for puppeteer Jim Henson and choreographer Alvin Ailey, and speakers over the years including South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
