The man was wearing only khaki shorts when he cornered the frightened nun.
A Brooklyn man was arrested after he allegedly marched into a Catholic church, where he cornered a nun and threatened to kill her as the terrified woman was praying inside, police said.
Sister Maria Amador was in the vestibule of the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights when a menacing man wearing only khaki shorts approached her at about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said.
“I don’t believe in this because you don’t help poor people,” the shirtless man said to Amador, the Mother Superior of her convent.
Frightened, the nun tried to ignore the man, but he demanded she repeat what he said, police said.
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Amador tried to get the attention of another woman in the church, which angered the man.
“I started to look at the woman, trying to say, ‘Okay, I need help,'" Amador told WCBS. "But he said, ‘She can’t help you and I am going to kill you.'"
Amador ran away from the man and yelled for help, dreading what the man might do next.
“I thought, 'This is my last day,'" Amador told the television station. "Thank God I am safe. And I could run away."
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The man fled the scene, running out of the church and west on Pacific Street, officials said
Derrick Gadson, 56, was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and aggravated harassment, which was classified as a hate crime, police said early Friday.
The NYPD’s hate crimes task force investigated the incident.
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