The authorities in Vermont arrested a man they said used an accelerant and a lighter to start a fire on Friday outside of Senator Bernie Sanders’s office in Burlington.
The man, Shant Soghomonian (also known as Michael Soghomonian), 35, previously of Northridge, Calif., was arrested on Sunday on a charge of using fire to damage the building at One Church Street in Burlington, Vt., the U.S. Attorney’s office for the district of Vermont said in a statement on Sunday.
Prosecutors and the police did not identify a possible motive for the fire. The office said that a lawyer for Mr. Soghomonian had not yet been identified. Officials did not provide a current address for Mr. Soghomonian.
On Friday morning, according to prosecutors and the Burlington Police Department, Mr. Soghomonian walked into the vestibule of the senator’s office, where a security camera captured him as he sprayed an “apparent accelerant” near the outer door of the office.
Mr. Soghomonian then used a lighter and “a blaze quickly began” as he fled via a staircase, prosecutors said. The blaze set off the building’s sprinklers on multiple floors.
The sprinklers extinguished the fire before firefighters arrived around 10:45 a.m., the police said.
The senator’s office was occupied at the time by multiple employees. It was not known how many other people were in the building at the time, but no injuries were reported, the authorities said.
Senator Sanders, an independent from Vermont, was not in his office at the time of the fire, his office said in a statement on Friday.
“A special thank you to Burlington Police Department detectives, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the integral role they played in bringing swift resolution to this investigation,” the mayor of Burlington, Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, said in a statement.
@ISIDEWITH2mos2MO
How important do you think it is for citizens to engage in peaceful protest versus more extreme forms of expression, and where should we draw the line?
@9LDQ89F2mos2MO
The right to protest should be peaceful not violent.
@9LDPNPF2mos2MO
The point of extreme protests is to get attention to what they are protesting. Most of the time peaceful protest doesn't gain much attention depending on how large it is. But at the same time extreme protests do not change much of their battle.
@9LDMHYZ2mos2MO
Peaceful protests do not come with the cons of backlash to violent protests
@9LDS8C72mos2MO
It's an interesting piece of work but it doesn't contain a lot of issues facing society right now.
@ISIDEWITH2mos2MO
@ISIDEWITH2mos2MO
@9LDMJVD2mos2MO
None of these comments are intelligent. It doesn't matter who the victim is or what political party the perpetrator affiliates is. Arson is illegal, so that makes it a wrongful act.
@SyrupHaileyRepublican2mos2MO
He uh... wanted to feel the Bern
@AdventurousLapwingGreen2mos2MO
Why are so many liberals pyromaniac? Maybe we need to keep matches away from them.
@UrchinJohnGreen2mos2MO
Remember when that Sanders supporter shot up a Republican softball game?
@ISIDEWITH2mos2MO
He's a politician, these ppl are disgusting and have made wealth off of the backs of ppl that follow them etc..
He's a politician, these ppl are disgusting and have made wealth off of the backs of ppl that follow them etc..
@ISIDEWITH2mos2MO
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