New York police search for a suspect and a motive after 11 police vehicles are torched
NEW YORK — A man suspected of torching 11 New York City police vehicles in Brooklyn last week — the first of two such arson attacks in the last week — was previously arrested at pro-Palestinian protests and is wanted for damaging a statue at Columbia University last fall, police said.
The NYPD on Wednesday released photos and a video of the suspect, a 21-year-old man from New Jersey, and asked the public for help finding him. He remained at large as of Thursday.
Police are also investigating whether he is also responsible for attempting to set fire Wednesday to a police van in another part of Brooklyn.
In the first attack, police said, a man climbed over a gate around 1 a.m. on June 12 and placed fire starters on the windshields, hoods and tires of multiple vehicles in a police parking lot about a block from a police station in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood.
The man then fled on foot, police said, citing surveillance video they said placed the 21-year-old suspect at the crime scene. None of the vehicles were occupied and no injuries were reported.
On Wednesday, police said, a fire starter was found on a police van parked outside a diner in Brooklyn's Williamsburg section. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the device was similar but not the same brand as the ones used in Bushwick.
After last week's fire, Mayor Eric Adams suggested that the suspect was connected to protests in Los Angeles , New York and elsewhere over the Trump administration's immigration enforcement agenda. Police, however, have not made that connection.
The suspect has two pending criminal cases in the city, according to court records.
On May 28, he was arrested in Manhattan and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest for allegedly obstructing traffic and refusing to move. In May 2024, he was arrested in Queens and charged with assault and resisting arrest. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
He has yet to be charged in the arson attack or the Columbia University vandalism last September. There, Kenny said, he disguised himself as a student and caused over $1,000 of damage to a campus statue.
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