Only days after flames ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a man has been arrested after entering St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York carrying two cans of gasoline, lighter fluid and butane lighters, according to the New York Police Department. St Patrick’s Cathedral was built in 1878 and installed a sprinkler-like system during recent renovations. Its wooden roof is also coated with fire-retardant.
The unidentified 37-year-old from New Jersey had pulled up in a minivan outside the cathedral on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, walked around the area, then returned to his vehicle at 7.55pm and retrieved the gasoline and lighter fluid, said the NYPD deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter-terrorism, John Miller.
“It’s hard to say exactly what his intentions were, 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,” Miller added. “His story is not consistent.”
