A man arrested at St. Peter Cathedral in Erie is now facing murder charges in New York.

Erie Police say 37-year-old Daniel Negron threatened suicide with a knife during Mass on July 29. Officers evacuated the church and eventually subdued Negron after he refused to drop the weapon and repeatedly asked police to kill him.

Doug White, at the cathedral for evening mass heard shouting coming from the confessional, something he said he's never heard before. "All the sudden there's a lot of shouting going on in the confessional, and pretty soon Father Joe Petrone kind of backed out of the confessional and this gentleman was erratic, screaming at him.  When he turned around I saw that he had a rather large knife in front of him," White said.

Father Michael Ferrick, Rector of St. Peter Cathedral witnessed the incident as well, saying police responded quickly and handled it well.  "The police were called they came, he had a knife and they asked him to put the knife down and you could tell he was in distress.  At this point no one else was in danger except himself and police did an an excellent job working with this man to resolve the situation," Father Ferrick said.

Deputy Chief Rick Lorah, Erie Police Criminal Investigation Division said it wasn't an easy arrest.  "He was telling the officers to shoot me, shoot me...we thought he was trying suicide by officer, suicide by cops. Ultimately they were able to pry the knife out of this individual's hand because they saw him start to actually press it into his sternum."

 During this altercation he was making some claims about hurting someone, that he didn't deserve to live.  Negron told officers he had harmed his girlfriend at a Buffalo-area motel. Authorities there followed up on the tip and later found a 27-year-old woman connected to Negron dead in a motel bathtub on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Amherst, with Negron allegedly admitting to stabbing her multiple times. 
 
Negron was arraigned in Erie on several charges, including terroristic threats and resisting arrest. He’s also charged with murder in the 2nd degree in New York.

Police say Negron hitchhiked from Buffalo to Erie before the incident.  He had been staying at the Erie City Mission.  He’s being held on bond and will face an extradition hearing to return to New York.

The Diocese of Erie confirmed no one was injured, and Mass continued as scheduled.