John Jones Admits Burning 173-Year-Old NYC Church as Prosecutors Cite Wider Attack Plots
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 7
John Jones Admits Burning 173-Year-Old NYC Church as Prosecutors Cite Wider Attack Plots
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 7
Summary
Federal prosecutors said 24-year-old John Jones admitted setting the June 19 fire that gutted Brooklyn’s South Bushwick Reformed Church and told investigators he had recently tried to burn a second church.
A detention memo says investigators found a notebook charting violent targets under headings such as “kill them” and “rape him,” which prosecutors are using to argue he should be held without bail.
Surveillance video allegedly shows Jones being denied entry to the church, buying a lighter across the street, then returning moments before smoke rose from the building.
The three-alarm blaze destroyed the church’s historic spire and thousands of artifacts at the 173-year-old landmark, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Jones was arrested Wednesday after an alleged Midtown CVS shoplifting attempt, faces a federal arson charge carrying up to 20 years, and is expected to be arraigned Friday.