A Queens man has been arrested in connection to a string of arson attacks in Jamaica, Queens and on Long Island Sunday night. Police say Ray Lazier Lengend, 40, has "made incriminating statements" about throwing Molotov cocktails fashioned out of Starbucks Frappuccino bottles at private residences, a deli, and an Islamic center. "The individual is implicating himself in each of the five firebombing cases, citing personal grievances with each location," police spokesman Paul Browne told reporters last night. See, it's never too late to get swept up in the Festivus spirit!
No one was injured in the attacks, which caused various degrees of property damage, but Lengend faces five counts of criminal possession of a weapon, one count of arson as a hate crime and four counts of arson. Investigators say he made anti-Islamic statements during his interrogation, and a police source tells the Times that he initially planned to use all his Frappuccino firebombs at the Islamic center, but was scared off by a police presence there. Besides his alleged anti-Islamic ire, Lengend was also peeved at the center's refusal to let him use the bathroom one time.
It seems the first attack Sunday night, against the deli, was payback for getting busted shoplifting. The deli's owner tells the Times that an employee caught Lengend stealing milk and—you guessed it—one of his precious Starbucks Frappuccinos. As they threw him out of the store, Lengend allegedly told the owner, "We’re going to get even. We’re going to get back at you." On Sunday night, he allegedly tossed a flaming bottle over the counter, and it was quickly extinguished, causing no damage.
Police say various other personal grievances were cited in the other attacks, but that Lengend had mistaken one of the private residences as the home of a "crack dealer" with whom he had a dispute, Reuters reports. And an attack on a residence that doubles as a Hindu place of worship may no longer be occupied by a man Lengend had a dispute with years ago. His arrest record includes drug possession, grand larceny and possession of bad checks. “I’m optimistic this is going to lead to a successful conclusion," NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly told CBS2 yesterday.
Detectives tracked Lengend down using a description of the vehicle, which witnesses said had Virginia plates. Lengend allegedly stole the gray, four-door Buick Regal from Avis at JFK on Friday morning. Investigators spotted it parked legally in Jamaica last night, and arrested Lengend when he came for the car. Inside, they found three more empty Frappuccino bottles in the back seat.
Starbucks has thus far declined to comment about the use of Frappuccino bottles in the firebombings, but a retired New York Police Department Bomb Squad technician tells the Times, "They are excellent for what you need, because it is a weak-sided bottle with a screw-on cap. It is small enough to be concealed in your pocket and it fits in your hand, so you can throw it almost like a Nerf football. It’s a small projectile you can get a good grip on and you can toss it."
