Via Chron:
Houston arson investigators have made an arrest in the early morning fire Friday at an Islamic center on the city’s southeast side, fire department officials said late Monday.
Darryl Ferguson, 55, of Houston, has been charged with felony first degree arson for the fire, according to HFD investigators.
The arrest was announced at a 6 p.m. news conference at HFD’s arson headquarters.
Investigators say the suspect “rolled up on his bicycle” to speak to them about the fire during an on-scene investigation Monday.
The son of the imam at Quba Islamic Institute had said arson investigators with the Houston Fire Department told him that an accelerant was used in the fire that broke out about 5:30 a.m. but the department released no further information.
A storage building at the site and its contents, giant doors, rolls of carpet and other construction materials was a near total loss, center officials had said. The community center, which caters to about 100 families, was closed at the time of the fire, and no one was inside. No injuries were reported.
The possibility of religious targeting brought calls for state and federal investigations from the Texas office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
So is he a rabid anti-Muslim bigot? Well, not so much, more like a homeless man with criminal history including burglary:
BREAKING: Arson Investigator: Darryl Ferguson, 55 (approx.), a homeless man, arrested for setting Islamic Center Fire in Houston.
— Joel Eisenbaum (@KPRCJoel) February 17, 2015
Man arrested for fire at Houston Islamic center has the criminal background you'd expect https://t.co/NLOcy8KIPH pic.twitter.com/LsCJ1XwBtc
— Anchor Away (@DefendWallSt) February 17, 2015
The previous criminal history including: Credit card abuse, trespassing charges, possession controlled substance and prostitution.
BREAKING: Islamic Center Arson suspect just told me he set the fire to stay warm MORE @KPRC2 #HouNews
— Joel Eisenbaum (@KPRCJoel) February 17, 2015
I just asked Islamic Center arsom suspect why he did it…he said it was an accident.
— Syan Rhodes (@SyanRhodes) February 17, 2015
Meanwhile, the assistant imam forgives the obviously hate-filled act (this may have come before finding out it was a homeless man who may have accidentally set the fire):
“But at the same time, we have forgiven, we have forgotten and we’d like to express that we’d love to have him come by and see us and let us know what was the misconceptions that he had about us that led him to commit such a crime,” said Ahsan Zahid, assistant Imam at the institute. “There’s no reason for there to be so much hate within someone to want to do something like that, at that level of violence. But at the same time, we have forgiven. We don’t want to know necessarily his motives, but we want to help him get better and get to know us better as well.”
HT: Progwatch