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Bystanders stopped a 26-year-old mother from setting fire to Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthplace after she doused her with gasoline, authorities said.
Two visitors from Utah interrupted the woman as she poured gasoline on the porch and on the door of the house, Darin Schierbaum, the Atlanta police chief, told reporters today. Assignment
Two officers from the New York Police Department visited the home and then chased him and detained him until police from the Atlanta Police Department arrived, he said.
“That action saved an important part of American history tonight,” he added.
Zach Kempf, 43, an artist from Salt Lake City who was there with his co-worker, said at first he thought he was watering the front lawn. Suddenly, he rushed up the stairs and started pulling the curtain door, trying to enter the house.
“He seemed strange,” he said, “so we asked him what he was doing, but he didn’t answer.”
He then dumped the contents of a five-gallon container on the balcony, threw the empty can into the grass and grabbed a light he had left in the lawn next to the balcony. Mr. Kempf blocked him with his body as he tried to return to the balcony with the light in his hand. He called 911.
Said Mr. Kempf had a “nervous energy” about him. “But he wasn’t provoked.” He finally relented, turned around and walked away quickly, down the street.
“And I yelled at the two men down the street that he was trying to burn the house down and followed him,” he said.
The two men, police officers from New York, arrested him, he said. When the village police arrived, an old man came, looking “very worried,” with three women. They are the father and his sisters of the woman, who were looking for him using the location signal from his phone.
Said Mr. Kempf’s family described him as an old man dealing with mental problems.
“Obviously, the house is very important, and I’m very happy that nothing happened,” he said in a phone interview. “But I feel like right now I’m just concerned for his well-being.”
The woman who was accused of trying to set fire to and interfere with government property, the Atlanta Police Department said in information.
“Someone tried to burn this historic property,” the King Center said information. “Unfortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful,” he added.
Jerry DeBerry, chief of the Atlanta Fire Department, said a hazardous materials unit was clearing the property and there was no damage.
“If the witnesses were not here and interfered with what he was doing, it would have taken only a few seconds for the house to catch fire,” he said. “It’s really about timing and witnesses in the right place at the right time.”
The two-story Queen Anne house, built in 1895, was the home of Dr. King for the first 12 years of his life. The building is located in the Auburn Avenue Historic District of Atlanta and is a federal landmark.
The interior of the building, which was acquired by the National Park Service in 2018, has been closed to the public since November for repairs and renovations. His collection will be stored elsewhere until 2025, as expected. open againsaid the National Park Service.
The police, who did not name the suspect, said they were investigating the incident.