Man charged with hate crime in cross burning in Chicago park

Merlin Lu faces felony and misdemeanor charges after police released images of a suspect fleeing the scene

A 21- year old man who admitted to setting fire to a cross in Chicago’s Grant Park last week is now in police custody on hate crime charges, per Chicago police.

Merlin Lu was arrested and charged with four felony and four misdemeanor counts related to the incident on 9 June.

Police released photos of a “person of interest” last week allegedly fleeing the scene. The photos showed a young man who appeared to be in his 20s, with dark hair, wearing a black backpack, dark trousers and white sneakers.

Rev Michael L Pfleger, pastor of Chicago’s Faith Community of Saint Sabina, offered a $10,000 reward for finding the perpetrator of the cross burning, which has long been associated with racism, white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan.

“This was so premeditated. You made this cross somewhere. You carried it, you got it downtown. You put it in one of the most visible spots in Chicago and then you set it afire,” Pfleger told ABC7, adding: “This is a decades-old symbol of hate and supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan. This is their symbol.”

Lu spoke to NBC Chicago earlier this week prior to his arrest, where the University of Illinois Chicago senior claimed “my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to with gender.” He said he placed a red hat on top of the cross to protest Donald Trump .

The station received a video last week where Lu claimed responsibility for the cross burning, denied affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, apologized to those who it offended, and criticized the US president.

Lu told the outlet that he built the cross after carrying wooden slats from his apartment to Grant Park last Tuesday afternoon, then used toilet paper and lighter fluid to start the fire.

He denied it was a hate crime, but said he should have protested a different way,

“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand, but I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” Lu said. “I wanted to find something that I could do by myself, like no organization, no friends.”

Two of the four felony counts Lu faces are hate crime charges, with the additional two felony charges associated with arson and damaging city property. The four misdemeanor charges are related to breach of peace, reckless conduct, damage to property and cross burning to intimidate, according the Chicago police .

Lu is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing on Thursday.