Anti-Israel ‘Arsonist,’ Accused of Burning Flags and NYPD Vehicles, Arrested After Alleged Rampage

An anti-Israel protester has been arrested and charged in connection with a June 12 arson attack in which he allegedly destroyed 10 NYPD cars and one trailer in a locked Brooklyn precinct parking lot. The suspect, 21-year-old Jakhi McCray, is accused of scaling a fence to get into the secure parking lot and spending 32 minutes setting multiple NYPD vehicles ablaze, authorities said. Mr. McCray turned himself in early Monday, appearing alongside his mother and attorney.During the arson attack, an NYPD officer responding to the fire approached Mr. McCray, who allegedly attempted to escape by scaling the fence but was blocked by the officer, according to court documents. Mr. McCray instead escaped through a hole in the fence and fled on foot.Surveillance footage later captured Mr. McCray buying a bottle of water at a nearby bodega, inadvertently showing his New Jersey driver’s license to the cameras as he opened his wallet to pay, according to court documents.Destroyed NYPD vehicles in Bushwick, Brooklyn, hours after an attack being investigated as arson. Novi ZhukovskyThe New York SunAt the scene, police recovered a cigar lighter torch and more than 20 commercial fire starters that included products with names such as “Jealous Devil BOOM! Firstarters” and “BBQ Dragon Egg,” according to court documents. Fingerprints found on sunglasses recovered at the scene matched those of Mr. McCray, according to authorities.Mr. McCray, who authorities said is involved in the so-called Free Palestine protest community, is also suspected of damaging a school statue during a 2024 protest at Columbia University. He had prior arrests in connection to a May 15, 2024, protest, in which he threw eggs at police officers and called officers “p—y” as they attempted to arrest him. Also in 2024, Mr. McCray was among those arrested for burning Israeli and American flags outside the Israeli consulate in Midtown Manhattan.In his court appearance on Monday, Mr. McRay was supported at court by more than two dozen people wearing kaffiyehs. Before his appearance he released a statement denouncing “kidnapping of migrants” and “the brutality of state repression.” One member of Mr. McRay’s defense team is a prominent liberal defense attorney, Ron Kuby.The NYPD said Mr. McCray’s alleged arson attack caused more than $800,000 in damage to the vehicles, which were assigned to precincts in northern Brooklyn. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. A New York magistrate judge, Vera M. Scanlon, released Mr. McCray on $300,000 bond and ordered him to undergo home detention and GPS monitoring, which United States attorneys unsuccessfully appealed. A wanted poster for Jakhi McRay. Via US Marshals“The arson attack against New York City Police Department vehicles in Bushwick, Brooklyn was as cowardly as it was criminal,” the NYPD Commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said in a statement.In an X post on Monday, Columbia University Apartheid Divest called on supporters to “pack the courts” for “our comrade” Mr. McCray in time for his early afternoon arraignment in the Eastern District Courthouse. “This, just like every court date of defendents [sic] across the empire, is a moment to stand up and fight against the system that seeks to silence, oppress, criminalize, and divide us,” CUAD said on X.

Anti-Israel ‘Arsonist,’ Accused of Burning Flags and NYPD Vehicles, Arrested After Alleged Rampage

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