The New York Police Department said Wednesday night that a 37-year-old man from New Jersey had been detained after a security guard at St. Patrick's Cathedral stopped him inside the historic Catholic church's doors with two cans of gasoline, lighter fluid, and two lighters.
The security guard called the police, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said at a press conference outside St. Patrick's, and police officiers found and confronted him a few blocks away. The man had parked his minivan on Fifth Avenue and walked around a bit before returning to the vehicle to get the flammable paraphernalia and head into the cathedral, Miller said. When confronted by police, "his basic story was that he was cutting through the cathedral to get to Madison Avenue, that his car had run out of gas. We took a look at the vehicle. It was not out of gas."
The man is known to the police and may be mentally unstable, the New York Daily News reports. Miller would not speculate on whether the man was inspired by the fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris just two nights earlier. "It's hard exactly to say what his intentions were," Miller said. "But I think the totality of 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."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
