Church-shoot guy riled over Latin America

The gunman killed in a tense shootout outside the famed Cathedral of St. John the Divine wanted to make a political statement about Latin America, police sources said Tuesday.

Luis Vasquez, 52, carried a twisted manifesto in his pocket when he pulled out a pair of pistols while standing on the steps in front of the Morningside Heights cathedral, and started shooting in the air Sunday afternoon.

“He was doing it because of the way the United States treated the people of Latin America. He cited U.S. banks. He cited corporations. He said, ‘We need to seize their wealth and return it to the people of Latin America,’” said a police source familiar with the investigation.

The ex-con, who wore a Dominican Republic flag face mask, waited for the cathedral to finish a Christmas carol performance on the steps before he started shooting.

After the choir wrapped up singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and most of the hundreds in attendance dispersed, he pulled out his guns and started firing into the air.

“Kill me! Kill me!” he screamed, as a witness across the street recorded the scene with his cell phone. The church’s choir director and a friend from the neighborhood hid behind the scant cover of a slim lamp post as three officers returned fire, hitting Vasquez in the head.

During an interview on Joe Piscopo’s radio show Tuesday, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison revealed Vasquez pointed his gun down at bystanders on the street at one point.

In his manifesto, Vasquez said he wasn’t planning to survive the encounter and that he intended to take hostages, but “he said he wouldn’t harm anyone unless they interfered with his plans,” the police source said. Cops found similar angry screeds about Latin America in his apartment, the source said.

Police also found a gas can, knives, a Bible, five long pieces of rope, five lighters and tape in the bag Vasquez carried on his deadly mission, sources said.

Vasquez had six arrests on his record, including for attempted murder in August 1990. Sources said he fired a loaded .357 Magnum in the direction of a woman and police officers in that case, and had cocaine on him when he was arrested.