Queens Church Shooting Suspect To Be Arraigned
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A friend of the man who blasted the head off a statue of St. Anne in front of a Queens church and then allegedly turned his shotgun on two police officers said yesterday that the suspect was a manic, religion-obsessed son of a preacher.
The suspect, Kevin Davey, 25, has been charged with attempted murder, criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal mischief as a hate crime after he allegedly gunned down two police officers responding to 911 calls about shots fired in Queens Village early Sunday morning. Mr. Davey was attempting to decapitate the statue first with a spear, then with a 12-gauge pump shotgun. Mr. Davey is expected to be arraigned this morning in his room at Mary Immaculate Hospital, where he is recovering from four gunshot wounds sustained during the gunfight with police. If convicted on all charges, he could face 25 years in prison.
The wounded police officers are expected to fully recover, police said. Both Dominick Romano, 29, and his partner David Harris, 40, are at Long Island Jewish Medical Center after sustaining gunshot wounds that left them in critical condition early Sunday morning after they were allegedly ambushed by the shotgun-wielding Mr. Davey.
In the wake of the desecration, the church faces a decision on what to do with the head of the statue. Yesterday marked the first day of the nine-day period of prayer, or novena, for St. Anne.
“Maybe it’s God saying ‘I’m going to call your attention to it,’ ” the Reverend John Byrnes, who has worked at the church for 21 years and has been a priest for 57 years, said of the timing of the shooting and the beginning of the novena for St. Anne.
A friend of Mr. Davey’s from the neighborhood said that the police and reporters were unfairly demonizing the man who has a sealed criminal record and a history of psychiatric problems.
“I don’t understand why they are making him into a madman, a crazy guy,” the friend, who refused to give his name, said. “He’s a churchgoing kid, his father is a preacher. It just so happened that he spazzed out for a minute. What do you expect from a guy who lived in a religious family all his life?”
