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A man who carried a pair of full two-gallon cans of gasoline, lighter fluid and lighters into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York on Wednesday night was charged with trying to start a fire inside the city landmark.
Marc Lamparello, 37, of New Jersey, was charged Thursday with attempted arson, reckless endangerment and trespassing, according to an NYPD spokesman.
Lamparello entered the cathedral just before 8 p.m. but was turned away by a church security officer, who informed him he could not enter with the items he was carrying, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said Wednesday night.
Some gasoline spilled on the floor as Lamparello exited.
The security officer then notified two police officers outside the cathedral, who caught up to Lamparello and questioned him. While he was cooperative, Lamparello's answers were inconsistent and evasive, Miller said, and he was arrested.
“His basic story was that he was cutting through the cathedral to get to Madison Avenue, that his car had run out of gas,” Miller said at a Wednesday night news conference. “We took a look at the vehicle. It was not out of gas, and at that point, he was taken into custody.”
Lamparello is listed as a doctoral candidate and adjunct lecturer at Lehman College in the City University of New York's philosophy department. Lehman College said Thursday it was in the process of firing him.
“We are aware that an individual was arrested last night after an incident at St. Patrick’s Cathedral," the school said in a statement. "The individual was hired at Lehman College during this academic year, and was a part-time, online instructor this semester. We are taking the appropriate steps to terminate the individual’s employment with the college.”
The incident came just days after a fire tore through the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
