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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Arson attack on Martin Luther King Jr's childhood home in Atlanta is prevented at the last second as off-duty cops arrest woman dousing historic building with gasoline
2023-12-09
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A female military veteran said to have mental health issues was filmed trying to set Martin Luther King Jr's childhood home ablaze.

The unnamed would-be arsonist, 26, was seen pouring the contents of a five gallon gasoline container onto the wooden porch of the historic Atlanta home on Thursday.

In a clip of the incident, a witness twice asks: 'What are you doing?'

The woman signals with her hand for him to leave her alone. 'That's gasoline,' he tells her.

Those witnesses later said that they stepped in when they saw her attempting to ignite a lighter on the lawn, The New York Times reported.

Eyewitness Zach Kempf, 43, who was visiting the federal landmark from Salt Lake City, stepped in after the woman walked to the front yard to get a lighter.

The woman was also seen trying to yank the screen door off the front of the property, which was built in 1895 and was MLK Jr's home until he was 12.

Kempf said the woman had a 'nervous energy' about her, adding: 'But she wasn't aggressive.'

He added 'Obviously, the house is so important, and I’m really glad nothing happened to it. But I feel like now I’m mostly just concerned for her well-being.'

The woman is then said to have relented in her attempts to burn the home and started to walk away. Two cops visiting from New York restrained her, with another part of the video shared showing the woman with a knee on her back.

Shortly after her arrest, the woman's father and sisters arrived at the scene. They said that they had been trying to track her down because they were worried about her and found her through a tracking app on her phone.

The home is located in Atlanta's historic Sweet Auburn section and is undergoing renovations and is closed to the public until 2025.

Congress declared the home a National Historic Site in 1980, and the National Park Service began offering tours of it in 1982.

The home was built in 1895 for a white family and bought by King's maternal grandfather in 1909 for $3,500. King's mother inherited it. King's younger brother, A.D. King, and his family were the last of the King line to live there.
WSBtv adds:
Police said they have arrested 26-year-old Laneisha Shantrice Henderson and charged her with criminal attempt arson and criminal attempt interference with government property.

Police say two tourists from Utah who were in the area saw Henderson pouring gasoline on the home and interrupted her. . . . Video from a witness shared with Channel 2′s Michael Doudna shows a woman dressed in all black pouring gasoline on the windows and in the bushes of the home.
More from MSN - Newsweek:
On Thursday at around 5:45 p.m., officers with the ADP responded to a report of vandalism in progress at 501 Auburn Avenue. That is where they say they found Henderson, who according to a preliminary investigation, had poured gasoline onto the property. She was immediately placed under arrest and transported to the Grady Detention Center for psychological evaluation. Henderson will be transferred to Fulton County Jail once discharged.

An ADP spokesperson had no further comment on Friday to Newsweek, aside from saying the investigation is ongoing and could change as it progresses.

According to records obtained by Newsweek, Henderson is from Brandon, Florida, and is registered to vote, but does not currently belong to any political party in the state.

A police report shows that officers seized a gasoline can and fuel at the scene, along with Henderson's iPhone and a black Chevrolet Cruze.

Local news station WSB-TV says it spoke to Henderson's father, who related that she is a veteran going through a mental health episode. Her father told them they had been trying to find her for two days.
Posted by:Skidmark

#7  Mental Health Issues - cover for a planned Jussie Smolett event to stoke the fires in Georgia.
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2023-12-09 13:33  

#6  You may say to yourself "This is not my beautiful house..."

You may ask yourself (while being mugshotted) "How did I get here?"
Posted by: M. Murcek   2023-12-09 11:20  

#5  I blame The Talking Heads.
Posted by: Super Hose   2023-12-09 10:43  

#4   Woman, 26, who tried to burn down Martin Luther King's childhood Atlanta home is identified as decorated Navy veteran Laneisha Henderson who received medals for good conduct
Posted by: Skidmark   2023-12-09 10:26  

#3  26-year-old Laneisha Shantrice Henderson

Another White Supremac....nope
/Nevermind
Posted by: Frank G   2023-12-09 08:04  

#2  She was immediately placed under arrest and transported to the Grady Detention Center for psychological evaluation.

Let me guess, she suffers from deep Antifa syndrome. It's almost 2024, got to get those cities burning again.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2023-12-09 07:21  

#1  Let me guess: She thought it was James Earl Ray's birth home...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2023-12-09 07:09  

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