St. Louis police arrest man who used construction equipment to damage statue at Cathedral Basilica

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - St. Louis Metropolitan Police have arrested a 35-year-old man after he allegedly tampered with construction equipment and used it to damage a statue at the Cathedral Basilica.

At 8 p.m. Tuesday night, officers were dispatched to the Cathedral Basilica after reports of a man tampering with construction equipment. When officers arrived, they found a boom lift had been dropped onto the Angel of Harmony statue at the cathedral.

A female witness tells KMOX she saw it happen from her apartment across the street from the cathedral and notified police.

"It sounded like a car was getting towed or like a dump truck dumping a bunch of stuff," said the witness. "We didn't think much of it, but it went on for like five minutes."

"So finally we looked outside and the (boom lift) was just ramming straight through (the statue) over and over."

The police department says that they were able to identify a 35-year-old man through video surveillance and detectives were able to spot him in the Central West End, but the man took off running.

Detectives established a perimeter and were able to find the man and arrest him at the intersection of Euclid and Maryland with the help of a K9.

Police say they also believe the man also fired a shot at a unoccupied car.