Jakhi McCray, a 21-year-old Brooklyn resident with a record of arrests linked to pro-Palestinian protests, pleaded not guilty Monday to federal arson charges after allegedly setting fire to nearly a dozen New York City police vehicles last month.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court, surveillance footage captured McCray climbing over a fence into a secure NYPD vehicle storage lot in Bushwick just before 1 a.m. on June 12. Roughly 30 minutes later, an officer responding to the scene discovered multiple vehicles ablaze and spotted the suspect escaping through a hole in the fence.
Investigators recovered a lighter and a pair of sunglasses at the scene — both bearing McCray’s fingerprints — as well as fire starters placed under several other cars that had not yet caught fire. Authorities estimate the total damage at approximately $800,000.
“Setting police vehicles ablaze is not a form of protest — it is a federal crime,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement.
McCray was granted release on the arson charge but remains in custody on an unrelated misdemeanor charge in Manhattan. His attorney, Ron Kuby, described him as a committed activist.
The case has drawn wider attention, with New York City Mayor Eric Adams previously suggesting the individual responsible may have links to protests in multiple cities, including Los Angeles and New York, particularly those opposing Trump-era immigration policies.
Federal authorities continue to investigate whether the arson was politically motivated or part of a broader pattern of protest-related vandalism.
