WASHINGTON — A 39-year-old Washington native faces charges for allegedly threatening and attempting to burn down a Metropolitan Police Department station in the District's Brightwood neighborhood.
Jerritt Jeremy Pace was indicted on Tuesday by a federal grand jury, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Pace allegedly made social media posts about wanting to burn down DC Police's Fourth District Station, located at 6001 Georgia Avenue NW, on May 29.
Pace reportedly suggested in the posts that his followers go burn the station down and "riot with the rest of the nation," according to officials.
After the posts, he allegedly filled a laundry detergent container with gasoline, put a wick in it, and set the canister on fire in front of the Fourth District Station.
No one was hurt and the station building was not impacted, according to officials.
Pace was arrested almost immediately after he allegedly set a fire in front of the police station.
“While the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia acknowledges the First Amendment right of individuals to protest peacefully, conduct that poses a grave risk to law enforcement, peaceful protesters, and community members alike will be prosecuted,” Acting U.S. Attorney Michael R. Sherwin said. "The quick investigative efforts of ATF and MPD thwarted a dangerous person’s attempt to use a makeshift gasoline bomb to potentially cause — in addition to property damage — serious bodily harm or death to law enforcement officers and members of our community.”
The charges that Pace faces include the use of an explosive in interstate commerce, using an instrumentality of interstate commerce to threaten the use of explosives and attempted arson.
If convicted, Pace reportedly faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each count, a fine of up to $250,000, and three years of supervised release.
A police precinct station in Minneapolis did get burned and destroyed following protests over George Floyd's death by a police officer in the city.
In Seattle, CHOP or CHAZ (the once autonomous zone in Seattle, Washington) encompassed a police station that was taken over after police abandoned the area during protests in the city.
This section of Seattle is now in the hands of the city police and has been cleared of protesters after violence in the area led to multiple deaths.
Learn more about the charges and crimes alleged against Pace here.
