SENATOBIA, Miss. (AP) — An Alabama man was charged Monday with setting fire to a Mississippi police department that has faced protests in the months since an officer fatally shot a 1-year-old boy.
Garrick Rawls faces an arson charge — a federal offense — in connection with a Halloween day fire that damaged the Senatobia police headquarters. Rawls describes himself on social media as a civil rights activist based in Huntsville, Alabama, more than 220
miles (354 kilometers) east of the small town of Senatobia, Mississippi.
Prosecutors have not outlined a motive, but a federal law enforcement affidavit describes Rawls as “a civil rights activist who has been extremely active in the Senatobia community following the death of Kohen Wiley,” the 1-year-old boy.
Wiley was killed in June when a Senatobia police officer fired his gun into a moving vehicle while responding to a shoplifting call. The boy was in the vehicle with his mother, who was unharmed, and her friend, who was seriously injured. The women denied having stolen anything, and no charges have been filed against them. A state investigation found no criminal wrongdoing by the officer, but Wiley's family has argued the use of force was unjustified.
Friday night before the fire, Rawls can be seen in another activist’s social media video attending a candlelit vigil for Wiley in Senatobia, according to an affidavit signed by Special Agent Joshua Garrett of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a federal law enforcement agency.
A federal public defender for Rawls did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Security cameras recorded a man in a mask and dark clothing smashing through a window of the police headquarters just after 4:30 a.m. Saturday, the affidavit says. The man reportedly empties a canister in the lobby, exits and then ignites it, setting off an explosion that propels him into the street, with several body parts on fire. He tries to put out the flames on his body and backpack before fleeing on foot.
Investigators found a partially burned boot, latex gloves, a hammer and a nozzle from a gas can at the scene. Community members helped them identify Rawls, who on Monday was wearing a large bandage and walking with a limp when agents found him in Huntsville, according to the affidavit.
