A deranged knife-wielding suspect shot by police after stabbing a Queens church security guard was slapped Friday with multiple charges in the bizarre attack.
Richard Moncrieffe, 59, was charged with assault, menacing a police officer, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon after his arrest in the Thursday afternoon confrontation at the First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, authorities said.
The accused man, who had no criminal record, did have a documented history with the NYPD as an emotionally disturbed person, police said. He ignored repeated calls to drop the weapon before coming at police, and was shot twice during the showdown, said NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell.
Moncrieffe was behaving erratically outside the house of worship and holding the knife in his hand before a woman went inside to find a security guard, police said. When the guard approached the suspect, he was stabbed in the stomach before heading back inside the church.
A 911 call brought police to the scene on E. 164th St. near Jamaica Ave., where the crazed suspect was waving the knife before charging at police, said Chell. He credited the wounded security guard with stopping Moncrieffe from entering the church’s busy administrative building.
The guard was taken to a local hospital in stable condition after the stabbing, cops said. The suspect refused to surrender the knife even after he was shot, with a police officer tasering Moncrieffe to disarm him, said Chell.
“I was scared as hell,” said Raven Walker, 25, owner of the nearby Mad Rag store. “It was such a nice day and no one really expected anything.”