Bad news: some "peaceful" protesters burned down multiple businesses after a George Floyd demonstration.
Good news: the FBI arrested them.
Jacqueline Derobertis reports:
Federal officials say three Baton Rouge residents accused of deliberately setting fires "to make a statement" amid ongoing civil unrest last week did so after attending a rally along Siegen Lane to protest the death of George Floyd.
Documents filed in U.S. District Court accuse Terry Dorsey, 21, Kenyatta Huggins, 22, and Shamyrin Johnson, 22, of interfering with interstate commerce by setting fires at four businesses May 31 and June 1. The three each had previously been booked on two counts of simple arson and criminal conspiracy.
The fires damaged Tai Industries near Siegen Lane, a Plank Road tire shop and the Airline Highway locations of AAA Tire Shop and Autozone Auto
An FBI special agent alleges that Dorsey, Huggins and Johnson made a collective decision to start the fires and did so after the three attended an anti-police brutality protest on Siegen Lane. That protest was generally peaceful, a contrast to several others held across the country after Floyd died at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
According to local investigators, Dorsey was motivated to commit the arsons out of anger for "what was going on" and wanted to "attack who was attacking us."
Huggins said she and the others wanted to get people's attention to let them know "it is going on in Louisiana too," according to the affidavit. Johnson also said that while he was angry, he "got caught up in the wave, and wanted to stand up for what is right." He also claimed people in the Baton Rouge area are "being pushed to commit acts of vandalism by all the rappers on Instagram."