Posted on 01/03/2012 1:33:10 PM PST by Hunton Peck
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City police say a man has confessed to a string of arson attacks at an Islamic cultural center and four other sites on New Year's Day.
The man was taken into custody Tuesday. His name was not immediately released.
Police spokesman Paul Browne says he made statements implicating himself in the attacks and had personal grievances with each targeted location.
Crude Molotov cocktails were tossed into a convenience store, two homes in Queens, one in nearby Nassau County, and an Islamic center.
He is facing arson-related charges. It's not clear if the incidents were bias crimes, but it's being investigated.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Detectives questioned a man Tuesday in connection with the firebombing of an Islamic cultural center and three other New York City sites, attacks they said might turn out to be hate crimes.
The man was tracked through a car with Virginia license plates that was believed to be at the scene of at least two of the attacks Sunday evening on a convenience store, two homes and the cultural center, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
The man in custody may be the same person kicked out of the convenience store on Dec. 22 for trying to steal a glass Starbucks bottle and milk, authorities believe. Four of the five crude Molotov cocktails thrown at the various locations were made from glass Starbucks bottles, Kelly said.
Witnesses reported he made threats as he was escorted out, Kelly said.
"When they were pushing him out of the store, he said words to the effect that `We're going to get even. We're going to get back at you,'" Kelly said.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
...and he (allegedly) stole the car with the Va plates from a JFK airport parking lot.
Police say Ray Lazier Lengend was arrested Tuesday on charges including one count of arson as a hate crime, four counts of arson and five counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
The few people I have ever met from Guyana are at least part African. It will be interesting to see how much influence the Muslims have that they might get the liberals to charge a black man with a hate crime. I bet this will be played down.
For the moment, at least, there’s a picture of the perp at the link.
If it weren’t reported as a hate crime, CAIR would have a fit and Bloomie the coward would see to it that the report was changed. The most important thing is to inflate the numbers of “hate crimes” against muslims.
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