St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, New York City, narrowly avoided a fate like France’s Notre Dame Cathedral.
On Wednesday, April 17, 2019, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) tweeted that around 7:55 pm that evening, “a man walked into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan with gas cans and lighter fluid,” and was apprehended by NYPD without incident.
Below is a pic of the gas cans and lighter fluid:
The man was identified by NYPD as Marc Lamparello, 37, a Ph.D. student at City University of New York (CUNY).
Lamparello was apprehended by cathedral security around 8 p.m. and taken into police custody by officers with the NYPD Critical Response Command for attempting to start a fire using a lighter. He had a car nearby to escape the scene. He was recently arrested for refusing to leave a church in Newark, New Jersey, as it was closing, and charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest.
According to the NYPD, about 90 minutes before Lamparello tried to enter St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he pulled up to the church in a minivan, wandered around for about an hour, then took out of his car four gallons of gasoline, two cans of lighter fluid, and lighters. At around 8 p.m., Lamparello tried to enter the cathedral with the gasoline and lighter fluid, but was prevented from entering by cathedral security. He spilled some of the gasoline on the floor as he was leaving. Police said his intent with the items he was found with seemed to be to “set a fire.” READ MORE
Via FOTM
