A crazed New York City man who hated Christianity took a sword yesterday to a century-old statue of St. Anne, trying to cut off its head.
When that didn't work, the man, Kevin Davy, returned with a shotgun and blew the head off the statue—which depicts Anne with her daughter, the young Virgin Mary. He then directed a hail of bullets at two approaching policemen.
One of the policemen, Officer David Harris—when he was lying on the ground shot in the arm and femur—managed to shoot down Davy, wounding him critically. From the Daily News:
"God was on their side," said a fellow cop who spoke to Harris after the shootout. "The crazy guy was turning his gun back on Harris to kill him when he fell from his own wounds."There's one miracle. Here's another: Both the cops will survive. Harris lives because a registered nurse, Tyrone Murphy, happened to be driving by and heard his cries. Newsday reports:
Murphy, a registered nurse who walks with crutches because of an old leg injury, was headed down Hollis Avenue to a 24-hour Walgreens drugstore on Francis Lewis Boulevard. He was a half-mile away when he heard Officer David Harris' cries for help. Inching closer, he saw Harris, 40, lying on his back near his patrol car.Interesting detail. Harris is crying out to his God—and his prayer is immediately answered. The suspect is screaming like a man possessed.
"He was hysterically yelling, 'Somebody please help me! I need a tourniquet! Oh, my God. I'm going to bleed to death!'" Murphy said....
About 20 feet away, Murphy saw the suspect...screaming incoherently.
Even so, somebody heard the madman's incoherent screams. Help reached him in time. There's another lovely detail in the Daily News story:
Davy, who was in critical but stable condition at Mary Immaculate Hospital...Now,there's proof that you can run, but you can't hide. Lucky for Davy, Our Lady does not hold grudges.
