Mississippi Activist Charged With Setting Fire to Embattled Police Department

SENATOBIA, Miss. – An Alabama man was charged Monday with setting fire to a Mississippi police headquarters that has been the focus of protests since an officer fatally shot a 1-year-old boy.

Garrick Rawls faces a federal arson charge stemming from a Halloween-day blaze that damaged the Senatobia police station. On social media, Rawls identifies himself as a civil rights activist from Huntsville, Alabama, located more than 220 miles (354 kilometers) east of Senatobia.

Federal prosecutors have not disclosed a motive. However, an affidavit from federal law enforcement 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 child.

Wiley died in June after a Senatobia police officer fired into a moving vehicle while responding to a shoplifting report. The boy was inside with his mother, who was not injured, and her friend, who suffered serious injuries. Both women denied stealing anything, and neither has been charged. A state investigation concluded that the officer committed no criminal wrongdoing, though Wiley’s family has maintained that the use of force was unjustified.

According to an affidavit signed by Special Agent Joshua Garrett of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Rawls appeared in a video posted to another activist’s social media account on Friday night at a candlelight vigil for Wiley in Senatobia.

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A federal public defender representing Rawls did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The affidavit says surveillance footage showed a masked man wearing dark clothing break through a window at police headquarters shortly after 4:30 a.m. Saturday. The man allegedly emptied a canister inside the lobby, left the building and ignited the contents. The resulting explosion threw him into the street, setting several parts of his body on fire. He attempted to extinguish the flames on himself and his backpack before running away.

Investigators recovered a partially burned boot, latex gloves, a hammer and a gas-can nozzle at the scene. Community members helped identify Rawls, and agents found him Monday in Huntsville, where he was wearing a large bandage and walking with a limp, according to the affidavit.