According to sources and records, the gunman killed by police after opening fire on the steps of St. John the Divine Cathedral had a long sheet of monkfish that included an assassination attempt.
And it wasn’t the first time he’d shot at police, according to sources.
Luis Vasquez, 52, was arrested on the Upper West Side for attempted murder in 1990 and on an assault charge there a year earlier, sources said Monday.
In the first case, Vasquez was charged with firing a gun at police and an unidentified woman on August 21, 1990, according to sources.
State prison records show he was sentenced to three to nine years after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor of possession of a weapon.
He was released but was re-arrested on a drug charge in 2007 and handed over to immigration authorities in November of that year.
Vasquez is a native of the Dominican Republic. His travel visa for the country expired on Sunday, sources said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs officials did not immediately respond to a request for details about his case.
Vasquez, of the Bronx, also received a charge for drug sales in 1989, as well as a marijuana charge in the Bronx in 2012 and a turnstile jump offense in 2007.
It was not immediately known how these cases were tried and some of the arrests have been sealed, according to sources.
Vasquez had lived with his mother in the Mount Hope section of the Bronx, according to a neighbor who described the woman as “a religious woman” and the building as a place to live.
“I can’t explain it because I’ve never seen anything like it,” Estaban Gil, 73, said of the shooting. “I have lived here for more than twenty years. I’ve never seen things like this. “
On Sunday, the video shooting in St. John the Divine happened around 3:45 p.m., at the end of a Christmas performance at the historic cathedral.
Vasquez opened fire from the top of the church staircase, sending people seeking refuge, and shouted “Kill Me” and “Shoot Me” when police arrived at the scene.
He took a pistol in each hand.
Two guards: Detective Jason Harper, a 22-year-old force veteran, and police officer Daurys Gutierrez, a nine-year veteran, can be seen in the video covering themselves behind a trash can and can overheard shouting for Vasquez to drop his weapons.
When Vasquez refuses, officers open fire and hit him in the head.
Sergeant. Kensington Cunningham, who has been in the department for 18 years, was at the scene while working as a paid security guard and was also fired.
Police said Vasquez had a can of gasoline, knives and a bible inside a bag when he opened fire on the church.
Eugene O’Donnell, a former NYPD police officer and professor of police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said officers had no choice but to open fire.
“New York City police training is, here’s a gun, cover yourself and pray you never use it,” O’Donnell said. “Do your best not to use this weapon.”
“Here he shoots them, endangers civilians and asks them to kill him, which tells you it’s dead end,” he said. “He tells you, ‘The only way this ends is if I die.’ That’s what he’s telling you. His intentions are crystal clear.”
Sergeant. Kensington Cunningham, who has been in the department for 18 years, was at the scene of the bundles while acting as a paid security guard and was also fired.
Police said Vasquez had a can of gasoline, knives and a bible inside a bag when he opened fire on the church.
Eugene O’Donnell, a former NYPD police officer and professor of police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said officers had no choice but to open fire.
“New York City police training is, here’s a gun, cover yourself and pray you never use it,” O’Donnell said. “Do your best not to use this weapon.”
“He shoots them here, endangers civilians and asks them to kill him, which tells you it’s dead end,” he said. “He tells you, ‘The only way this ends is if I die.’ That’s what he’s telling you. His intentions are crystal clear.”
Additional reports by Rebecca Rosenberg and Rachel Green.