Sarah Whites-Koditschek is an investigative reporter at Mississippi Today spending a year as a New York Times Local Investigations fellow. She can be reached at sarah.whites-koditschek@nytimes.com.
Federal authorities have charged a civil rights activist with arson in a fire that damaged the Senatobia Police Department headquarters. Officers tracked Garrick Rawls, 41, to a relative’s house in north Alabama using surveillance video, community tips and his cellphone signal, court filings show.
Federal investigators reviewed surveillance footage from the scene of the fire that occurred before dawn Saturday, and identified Rawls, known locally for his involvement in protests against the department over the shooting death of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was killed by police.
“The individual is observed on cameras walking up to a window along the front of the police department, and utilizing what appears to be a hammer to break the window,” says a federal complaint filed against Rawls.
Rawls was arrested in Huntsville, Alabama, and a federal complaint was filed against him on Monday. He is in the U.S. Marshals Service custody, according to federal court filings, and has a federal hearing scheduled Thursday in Huntsville.
The Senatobia Police Department caught on fire early Saturday after months of turmoil following the police shooting of the toddler in June. Firefighters were dispatched at 4:58 a.m. and quickly extinguished the fire, according to the Senatobia Fire Department.
The department has faced national scrutiny since June 14, when an officer killed Kohen in a Walmart parking lot. Senatobia officer Hunter Foster fired shots as Kohen’s mother and another woman fled the parking lot. The women were suspected of stealing diapers and baby clothes. Foster resigned in October. The department’s former chief, Harold Vanderford, was fired after Mississippi Today and The New York Times revealed in August that he had sent racially offensive slurs in texts to officers.
In October, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced the state would not pursue criminal prosecution against Foster. Protests and vigils in Senatobia before and after her decision drew activists to the streets, including Rawls.
Surveillance footage of the fire showed a person with long dreadlocks in dark clothes, a hood and a mask walking down Center Street near the police department at about 4:32 a.m., according to the complaint.
The person wore a backpack and held a white paper sack with what looked like a gas can, according to the complaint. The video shows him using a hammer to break a window at the police department, entering the lobby and emptying a canister, stepping back outside and lighting a fire.
“The subsequent explosion sends the individual flying back into the roadway, with several body parts on fire, including the right foot area,” the complaint says. Law enforcement officers found a Tommy Hilfinger boot that was partially burned, two latex gloves, a hammer and the nozzle of a gas can at the scene.
ATF Special Agent Joshua Garret said he interviewed local law enforcement and community members who pointed him to Rawls, who had attended recent protests against the police shooting of Kohen. Investigators found footage of a vigil for Wiley on Friday night and saw Rawls in attendance.
Investigators then tracked Rawls and a group of other activists to the Hampton Inn in Batesville. Investigators found surveillence video footage of Rawls wearing a black hood and mask as he left the hotel parking lot in a silver Jeep.
Using Rawls’ cellphone data, investigators then tracked him to a location in Huntsville at the home of a relative. Surveillance agents observed him at the property, according to the complaint.
“Rawls appears to be wearing a large, white bandage on his right leg and has a noticeable limp when walking on the right side,” the complaint said.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested Rawls Monday with help from the Huntsville Police Department and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, according to the bureau.
Attorneys for Rawls and for the government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the Senatobia community for the overwhelming support, cooperation and information provided to investigators,” LaMorris Hampton, interim chief of police for the Senatobia Police Department, said Monday about the fire investigation.
The department announced online that starting Wednesday, it will operate out of a new location, “until further notice.”
Rawls was active in protesting police-involved shooting deaths in Alabama. In 2021 he was arrested for disorderly conduct at a Huntsville City Council meeting for protesting the deaths of people killed by the Huntsville Police Department. In 2019 he was arrested for staging a “die in” protest during the Veterans Day Parade.
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