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Gunman killed by police at NYC cathedral concert
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A MAN was fatally shot by police on the steps of a landmark New York City cathedral on Sunday after he began firing two semiautomatic handguns at the end of a Christmas choral concert, police said.
The gunfire began just before 4pm at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.
A 45-minute concert held on the cathedral steps had just ended and a crowd of several hundred was drifting away when the gunman began shooting, sending people running down Amsterdam Avenue screaming and diving to the sidewalk.
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.
鈥淚t is by the grace of God today,鈥 he said, that no one besides the gunman was struck.
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 emerged at the top of the staircase.
Witnesses told police the man was yelling 鈥渒ill me鈥 as he fired, Shea said.
The man鈥檚 name was not immediately released.
The man had a lengthy criminal history and was carrying a backpack containing a can of gasoline, rope, wire, tape, knives and a well-worn Bible, Shea said.
It wasn鈥檛 clear if the gunman was aiming at people or firing in the air.
A video posted on social media by one bystander showed officers crouched behind trash cans yelling 鈥渄rop the gun!鈥 And firing carefully aimed shots at the man for at least a minute and a half as he darted in and out from behind a pillar.
Some terrified civilians lay prone at the bottom of the steps, clutching each other during the gunfire. Others cowered behind a lamp post.
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.
鈥淚t was just beautiful, and then at the end this person started shooting. Everybody is in shock,鈥 said Lisa Schubert, a cathedral spokeswoman.
鈥淭he shooter could have killed a lot of people. There were hundreds of people and he shot at least 20 times.鈥
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