Church Statue Defaced, Police Injured

Two cops were shot yesterday as they were trying to stop a man who had shot off the head of a church statue in Queens. Kevin Davy allegedly yelled, "I'm a hustler! I'm a warrior!" as he was attacking the statue with a 12 gauge shotgun when Officers Dominick Romano and David Harris approached; then Davy shot at them multiple times, with Romano once in the head with his bulletproof vest stopping eight bullets and Harris's femur was shattered with five shots in the right leg. Davy, who had also chopped off the statue's arms with a sword, is described as being mentally ill; Davy and his brother had produced what the Daily News calls an "anti-police and anti-government" DVD. Monsignor Malagreca spent his services at the mostly Haitian Saints Joachim and Anne Church in Queens Village explaining what had happened, with parishioners shocked over the attacks, but one told the NY Times, "The head is missing, but the spirit is still there."

Photograph by Newsday