Vandals followed officers home and torched their patrol cars, Georgia cops say
Georgia authorities say they have arrested a group of vandals accused of tracking two metro-Atlanta officers to their homes and trying to set their patrol cars on fire.
Alvin Joseph, 21, Lakaila Mack, 20, and Ebuka Chike-Morah, 21, all face multiple charges, including first-degree arson, in the June 2 incident, according to police reports obtained by McClatchy News.
Gwinnett County police received a report late Tuesday about a patrol car on fire at an officer’s home in Duluth. A witness who spoke with police said she noticed three black males fleeing the area and reported what sounded like gun shots, although one suspect was later identified as a female, according to the report.
Authorities said the fire was put out by the time officers arrived, but there was noticeable damage.
“Pieces of glass, filled or coated with accelerant coupled with a wick, was thrown at the driver side window of the county vehicle,” according to the police report. “Another jar may have been placed on top ... just behind the light bar. A piece of burning cloth was recovered.”
Later, police got a similar call about someone trying to torch a patrol car at an officer’s home, this time in nearby Lawrenceville, according to the report. The blaze was started on the ground behind the car and officers noticed a pair of dents on the driver’s side of the vehicle, the department said.
Police arrested Joseph and Mack a short time later after tracking down their car, the police report states. Chike-Morah‘s car was located and the suspect was apprehended the following morning.
Police conducted a search of both vehicles where they found an “accelerant related to the crimes,” according to the report. Authorities said the suspects used makeshift Molotov cocktails to target the officers’ cars.
No injuries were reported.
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Chike-Morah attended a protest in honor of slain man George Floyd at the Sugarloaf Mills Mall days earlier and said he hoped things remained peaceful, local station WSB-TV reported.
“We’re going to continue walking until we don’t feel like walking no more,” he told the news station. “They unloaded the bus trying to catch us but I’m not getting got. I can speak for myself. I don’t know what they got going on.”
“I’m just trying to go home and go to work tomorrow,” Chike-Morah added, WSB-TV reported.
The suspect and his alleged accomplices now face several charges that include criminal trespass, possession and manufacturing of destructive device, and interference with government property — a felony.
Joseph went before a judge Wednesday, WSB-TV reported. Mack and Chike-Morah are expected in court Thursday.
All three remain held at the Gwinnett County Jail without bond, police said.
