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Shirtless man threatens to kill nun praying in Brooklyn cathedral, source says

The shirtless man who threatened to kill a nun inside a Brooklyn cathedral was arrested and charged with a hate crime, police said Friday. 

The 49-year-old woman was praying inside a vestibule at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights at about 2:30 p.m. when Derrick Gadson, 56, approached her, police said.

“I don’t believe in this because you don’t help poor people,” Gadson said, according to police. When the nun did not respond, the man asked her to repeat what he said.

After she repeated him, Gadson replied, “I will kill you,” police said.

The nun ran away, yelling for help, and Gadson, who lives less than a mile from the cathedral, fled, according to police.

He was later arrested and charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime and criminal possession of a controlled substance, police said.