Naked Man Kills Usher With Prayer Stand in Cathedral

A deranged man ripped off his clothes Wednesday night, entered St. Patrick’s Cathedral and beat an elderly usher to death with a heavy iron prayer stand before being shot to death by a police officer.

Panic filled the huge Fifth Avenue cathedral, a New York City landmark that draws thousands of tourists, as the man struck worshipers. A policeman who attempted to subdue the attacker was hit on the head and later was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was reported in serious but stable condition. Police said the worshipers did not appear to be seriously hurt.

A police spokesman identified the dead church usher as John Winters, 77, and the injured policeman as James McMann, 50. The identity of the assailant was not disclosed.

Had Confronted Cardinal

Cardinal John J. O’Connor, looking shaken, appeared at a brief news conference in front of the church under heavy police guard and said he had attempted to comfort the man when he was confronted by him during Wednesday’s 8 a.m. Mass.

“He confronted me. I patted him on the shoulder. I said, ‘God Bless you,’ ” O’Connor told reporters.

The cardinal said that, while he was attempting to calm the man during the morning service, a priest whispered to him: “Be careful, he might be violent.”

“The man seemed to be completely deranged,” the cardinal added.

Muscular Assailant

Just about 12 hours later, the large, muscular assailant, after taking off his clothes near Rockefeller Center, returned to the massive gray stone cathedral.

“He suddenly stopped, stripped and headed up the street,” said Scott Lucas, 26, who saw the man disrobe on the street.

Shielding his lower body with red carnations, the man grabbed an iron prayer-book stand and began attacking worshipers with the stand and with a belt.

Police said he repeatedly struck the usher before attacking an elderly woman praying in a pew.

“He had a belt in his hand and was hitting her in the back and all over,” said Louis Gonzalez, 18, who was in the church. “He was crazy hitting her with the belt. He must have hit her more than 10 times.”

Worshipers Panicked

Gonzalez said the woman began screaming and other worshipers fled in panic.

Police spokesman Raymond O’Donnell said the man struck McMann, the police officer normally on duty in the area around St. Patrick’s, with a small podium he had ripped from the floor. The officer radioed for assistance and other officers rushed to the church. One of them killed the deranged man with a single shot to the chest.

Witnesses said the man, who seemed oblivious to other people, was chanting under his breath when he stormed into the church.

Parishioners told detectives that McMann had tried to persuade the man to leave before the violence erupted.

Couldn’t Save Usher

Police emergency vehicles and ambulances converged on St. Patrick’s after the incident at 7:56 p.m. Ambulance attendants found the elderly woman to be not seriously injured. But they were unable to save the usher, whose body lay in front of the pulpit near the body of his assailant.

Over the years, there have been a number of instances of deranged people causing disruptions in St. Patrick’s, which attracts not only worshipers and tourists but also some of New York’s homeless. None of those disturbances compared to the violence after dinner time on Wednesday.

Despite the tragedy, O’Connor said he planned no steps to curtail public prayers in the cathedral.