Posted on 12/19/2004 6:26:01 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Racial animosity and revenge are among the possible motives in the arson fires in a subdivision in southern Maryland on Dec. 6, a spokesman for federal investigators said Sunday.
Four men have been charged with arson in the fires, which destroyed 10 houses and partly burned 16 others, causing $10 million in damage. No one was hurt; many of the houses were still under construction.
A federal law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity said two of the four suspects in custody made racial statements to investigators during questioning. The suspects are white, and many of the families moving into the development are black.
Michael Campbell, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said investigators were considering revenge and race, along with several other possible motives.
"Two typical motives for arson are revenge and race," Mr. Campbell said. "It's something investigators are looking at."
None of the suspects have been charged with a hate crime.
Initially, there was speculation the fires had been set by environmental extremists, because some environmental groups had complained that the houses threatened a nearby bog. But no evidence has been found to support that theory, the police said.
While many of the buyers of the half-million-dollar houses are black, Charles County, where the development is located, is largely rural and mostly white.
Derrick Potts, who is black and lives with his girlfriend and children in the only occupied house in the section of the development that burned, said he doubted race was the prime motive.
Mr. Potts said that his family had been warmly received by the community after the fires, and that he had not sensed any racial animosity. "I've never looked at this area as having racial problems," he said. Mr. Potts's home suffered little damage, and the family was able to return last week.
Several shoppers at a grocery store in Accokeek, just north of Indian Head, also said there was little racial tension in the area.
But Janaire Anderson of Clinton said that did not mean it was not a motive in the fires. "I think race is a factor in everything we do," she said.
On Saturday, officials arrested three suspects: Jeremy D. Parady, Patrick S. Walsh and Michael M. Everhart, all 20. They are to appear on Monday before a federal magistrate judge in Greenbelt. The fourth suspect, Aaron Speed, 21, who worked for a security company hired to guard the development, is being held until a hearing on Tuesday.
Perfect, just perfect - the MSM will make a lot of coverage out of this ...
Well, it looks like a sordid mess: first a disgruntled employee (Speed), now this development (and how to connect them?). Let us hope they will be able to sort it out without undue sensationalism.
"Two typical motives for arson are revenge and race,"
I would have guessed insurance fraud, terrorism, revenge, intimidation, fun, and race, with race being the least likely reason.
Unfortuneately, from what I know about Charles County, race is not an impossibity. I know "fun" sounds like a bad motive, but in southwest VA, they like to set forest fires for "fun" every year. I think they do the same in Detroit every Halloween. And of course there are the sports "celebrations".
The really interesting twist here is this was a development of big half-million dollar homes being built/bought mostly by blacks, and the suspects seem to be lower-class whites.
Over the last election cycle, I learned that the young white males in Ohio are in a very foul mood. Not only that, but if you look at the college attendance rates, the white girls are going to college more than the white males.
Something very wrong has happened lately.
Well, thing about this area is that Southern Maryland is very much the old South and was really rural till recently. (1/2 my family are from there, used to grow tobacco.) However the DC suburbs are rapidly encroaching on the area. The guys who did this really seem part of the remnant old "original" population of the area.
This can't be.... Racial tensions in a blue state? I am shocked. Jesse Jackson is on his way to Maryland as we freep...........
Our chief weapon is suprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise....
I might not be getting in all of this, but I don't think that saying racial slurs makes you guilty of arson. There seems to be a gap in logic or details.
It's always shocking to me to encounter real racism, particularly since I expect it only from the covert, nasty, subtle racism of liberals. But it's very open in many communities around Chicago and New York.
It received almost no coverage in the MSM, especially the New York Times. The group was "anti-development" and ruined several expensive homes that were under construction.
Could there be a link between that case, and this?
This is the same case. They thought it was radical environmentalists.
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