Joshua Williams is the one in the red All American Hoodie. Update to a previous story.
Via STL Dispatch
One of the most frequently quoted and photographed Ferguson protesters was charged Saturday with setting fire to a Berkeley convenience store earlier this week.
St. Louis County police arrested Joshua Williams, 19, of St. Louis, on Friday after several local media outlets and store surveillance captured images of him trying to set a pile of wood on fire outside the QuikTrip on North Hanley Road early Wednesday.
Williams confessed to setting fires at the store in a videotaped interview, according to court documents.
Police say Williams entered the QuikTrip shortly after looters shattered its glass doors during protests of the death of Antonio Martin, 18, who a police officer had shot earlier at the Mobil on the Run store across the street. Surveillance footage from the Mobil store shows Martin point what police say is a gun at a Berkeley officer before the officer fatally shoots him. […]
Williams has been arrested at least twice during Ferguson-related protests for unlawful assembly as well as refusal to disperse.
Police say Williams used lighter fluid to set fires inside and outside the QuikTrip. He was charged with arson in the first degree, a felony. He is also charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor stealing for allegedly taking a lighter, gum and money from the store.
Williams has been quoted as an advocate for peaceful protests.
An MSNBC profile of Williams in September quoted him as saying, “We have to come together as one and show them we can be peaceful, that we can do this. If not, they’re going to just want us to act up so they can pull out their toys on us again.”
Later, he continued: “I learned that we have to stand up and that you can’t get nowhere with violence but you can always move people without it.”