The shooter at a New York City, New York, Christmas concert was an immigrant to the United States from the Dominican Republic who avoided deportation despite an extensive criminal record, officials confirm.
Luis Manuel Vasquez-Gomez, a 52-year-old native of the Dominican Republic who lived in the Bronx, opened fire on December 13 at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine following an outdoor Christmas concert on the steps of the church.
Vasquez-Gomez was met within five minutes by New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers who pleaded with him to drop his gun, though he refused. NYPD officers shot Vasquez-Gomez, and he was rushed to a hospital where he died.
Vasquez-Gomez was wearing a Dominican Republic face mask and hat and, according to the New York Daily News, was carrying a manifesto where he justified the shooting “because of the way the United States treated the people of Latin America.”
