A man in a wheelchair with nothing but hate on his mind set a memorial for the Pulse Nightclub shooting on fire on October 12th around 8:30 p.m. and fled the scene, according to
LGBTQ Nation. Nobody was injured in the roughly 15-minute fire that burned itself out, causing over $1,000 in damages, making it a felony.
Video feed shows the perpetrator, later identified as 64-year-old Mark Henson, rolling up to a wall opposite to the nightclub donned with memorial posters and drawings and using a cigarette lighter to set the shrine on fire. The incident was not reported until November 3rd, says
CNN.
onePULSE, the nonprofit that founded the memorial for the shooting victims, released the feed to social media in an effort to assist catching the suspect. This video includes the man setting memorials on fire and the extent of the physical damage it caused, but not the emotional damage.
“Three Angel banners were burned along with other items within the affected area,” says a Facebook post written by the group.
The Pulse Nightclub shooting was an incident in Orlando, Florida in 2016 wherein a lone gunman, falsely claiming ties and allegiance with Al-Qaeda, barricaded himself in the pulse Nightclub, an LGBTQ bar. 49 were murdered and 53 more sustained injury before SWAT managed to breach the nightclub and make the gunman the 50th kill.
A recently discharged Marine worked as the club’s bouncer for that evening and recognized the noise as gunfire. He helped 70 more escape the shooting to safety.
After the fact, the killer’s widow, Noor Salman, was charged with obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting the shooter in supporting a terrorist organization. Salman was acquitted and currently lives in hiding.
Pulse survivor Brandon Wolf calls the damage heartbreaking. “It’s an important place — for me and others,” said Wolf on Wednesday.
Hensen has been arrested and charged with a felony criminal mischief, says New York Times. I can think of one more charge: Hate crime.
