An incident at the Church of St. Catherine of Siena

An incident occurred at the Church of St. Catherine of Siena on East 68th Street involving an unhinged homeless man with a history of arrests. The suspect, Frank Fernandez, 64, allegedly slashed a 63-year-old volunteer on the arm with a boxcutter. The volunteer had informed Fernandez that he could not use the bathroom at the church, leading to the altercation.


Frank Fernandez, 64, allegedly slashed a 63-year-old volunteer on the arm inside of St. Catherine of Siena church on the Upper East Side, police said. Matthew McDermott

The victim, who was performing janitorial work at the church, sustained a minor cut to his left inner arm. Despite the attack, he refused medical attention at the scene. Fernandez was arrested and charged with felony and misdemeanor assault and burglary charges.

A general view of an NYPD police car with a thin blue line design or blue lives matter design as seen outside of the 44th precinct station house located at 2 E169th Street in the Bronx, NY on June 27, 2024.
Fernandez was granted supervised release over prosecutors’ request for bail. Christopher Sadowski

During Fernandez’s arraignment, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office requested bail, but Judge Ariel Chester granted supervised release instead. The reasons for this decision were not immediately clear. A parish priest mentioned that the church did not want to press charges as Fernandez and the suspect knew each other. Details of Fernandez’s prior arrests were not available, and he currently does not have any other open cases in Manhattan.