Search continues for suspect linked to NYPD automobile arson – NBC New York

A person suspected of torching 11 New York Metropolis police automobiles in Brooklyn final week — the primary of two such arson assaults within the final week — was beforehand arrested at pro-Palestinian protests and is needed for damaging a statue at Columbia College final fall, police stated.

The NYPD on Wednesday launched photographs and a video of the suspect, a 21-year-old man from New Jersey, and requested the general public for assist discovering him. He remained at giant as of Thursday.

Police are additionally investigating whether or not he’s additionally answerable for making an attempt to set fireplace Wednesday to a police van in one other a part of Brooklyn.

Within the first assault, police stated, a person climbed over a gate round 1 a.m. on June 12 and positioned fireplace starters on the windshields, hoods and tires of a number of automobiles in a police parking zone a few block from a police station in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood.

The person then fled on foot, police stated, citing surveillance video they stated positioned the 21-year-old suspect on the crime scene. Not one of the automobiles had been occupied and no accidents had been reported.

On Wednesday, police stated, a fireplace starter was discovered on a police van parked outdoors a diner in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg part. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny stated the gadget was related however not the identical model as those utilized in Bushwick.

After final week’s fireplace, Mayor Eric Adams prompt that the suspect was linked to protests in Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda. Police, nonetheless, haven’t made that connection.

The suspect has two pending legal circumstances within the metropolis, in accordance with courtroom information.

On Could 28, he was arrested in Manhattan and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest for allegedly obstructing visitors and refusing to maneuver. In Could 2024, he was arrested in Queens and charged with assault and resisting arrest. He has pleaded not responsible in each circumstances.

He has but to be charged within the arson assault or the Columbia College vandalism final September. There, Kenny stated, he disguised himself as a scholar and precipitated over $1,000 of injury to a campus statue.