crimes and misdemeanors

Frappuccino Firebombs Were More Revenge Than Hate Crime

A police sketch of Lengend. Photo: This photograph is protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Licensing requests should be sent to photosales@nytimes.com.

Ray Lazier Lengend confessed yesterday to throwing Molotov cocktails, some made from Starbucks bottles, around Queens on New Year’s Day, but explained that he wasn’t exactly targeting Muslims for their faith. As the Post reports, Lengend “got back at a Jamaica Islamic center for not letting him use the bathroom, settled two personal beefs, and took out his frustration on a deli owner who caught him shoplifting,” while the fifth attack was a mistake — he “had the wrong address for a crack dealer he was allegedly after.” And yet, some anti-Muslim statements to police about the Islamic center will add one count of arson as a hate crime to four additional counts of arson as general nuttiness.

Firebombs Were More Revenge Than Hate Crime