Prosecutors charge Garrick Rawls with arson at Senatobia police headquarters

Affidavit recounts masked man’s flight and vigil; investigators found physical evidence

Garrick Rawls, an Alabama man who describes himself as a civil rights activist, was charged Monday with a federal arson offense connected to the Halloween fire that damaged the Senatobia Police Department headquarters in Mississippi. A federal affidavit says security cameras recorded a masked man smashing through a headquarters window just after 4:30 a.m. Saturday. The same affidavit says agents found Rawls in Huntsville on Monday wearing a large bandage and walking with a limp. Prosecutors have not outlined a motive.

The case follows months in which the Senatobia Police Department faced protests, a period that began after an officer fatally shot 1-year-old Kohen Wiley. A federal affidavit describes Rawls’s activity in Senatobia and the security footage of a masked man, while investigators reported finding a partially burned boot, latex gloves, a hammer and a nozzle from a gas can at the scene. Prosecutors have not stated why the fire was set.

Rawls describes himself on social media as a civil rights activist based in Huntsville, Alabama, more than 220 miles (354 kilometers) east of the small town of Senatobia, Mississippi. The affidavit, signed by Special Agent Joshua Garrett of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a federal law enforcement agency, describes Rawls as “a civil rights activist who has been extremely active in the Senatobia community following the death of Kohen Wiley.”

The affidavit also places Rawls at a candlelit vigil for Wiley in Senatobia on Friday night before the fire. It says Rawls can be seen in another activist’s social media video at the vigil.

Wiley was killed in June when a Senatobia police officer fired his gun into a moving vehicle while responding to a shoplifting call. The 1-year-old boy was in the vehicle with his mother, who was unharmed, and her friend, who was seriously injured. The women denied having stolen anything, and no charges have been filed against them.

A state investigation found no criminal wrongdoing by the officer, while Wiley’s family has argued that the use of force was unjustified. The shooting and subsequent protests form the context in which the police headquarters fire occurred, but prosecutors have not outlined a motive.

Security cameras recorded a man in a mask and dark clothing smashing through a headquarters window just after 4:30 a.m. Saturday, the affidavit says. The man reportedly emptied a canister in the lobby, exited and then ignited it, setting off an explosion that propelled him into the street. Several body parts were on fire, and the man tried to extinguish the flames on his body and backpack before fleeing on foot.

Investigators found a partially burned boot, latex gloves, a hammer and a nozzle from a gas can at the scene. Community members helped investigators identify Rawls, according to the affidavit.

Agents found Rawls on Monday in Huntsville, where he wore a large bandage and walked with a limp. A federal public defender for Rawls did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rawls faces the federal arson charge in connection with the fire, and prosecutors have not outlined a motive.