Prosecutors have surfaced new statements from the man suspected of setting fire to an Islamic center in Houston, including that he “hated Muslims.”
“He told a nearby convenience store clerk that he hated Muslims, they got what they deserved, and things happen for a reason,” Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said at a probable cause hearing on Tuesday, KPRC reported.
Daryl Ferguson, a 55-year-old homeless man who has a criminal record, confessed to burning down one of three buildings at the Quba Islamic Institute last week. Ferguson previously told a KPRC reporter that he lit the fire to stay warm.
Authorities haven’t commented on a motive for the arson or whether they were investigating the arson as a hate crime.
An imam at the Quba Institute on Monday told KPRC that members of the center have received direct threats online since the fire.
