Domestic Terrorist Sentenced for Attempting to Set Fire to Raleigh Police Department Vehicle

 RALEIGH, N.C. – A Raleigh man was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment today for attempting to set fire to a marked police vehicle in Raleigh after a demonstration over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Jabari Devon Davis, of Raleigh, was arrested by special agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) on June 4, 2020 and was charged with one count of attempting to damage or destroy by fire a vehicle owned or possessed by an institution receiving federal financial assistance. 

According to court documents, on  May 31, 2020, at approximately 12:31 a.m. a fire was discovered coming from the fuel filler area of a police vehicle owned by the Raleigh Police Department (RPD), that was parked at the Raleigh Police Southeast District Station (RPSDS) in Raleigh.  The fire was discovered and extinguished by an RPD Captain who was driving through the parking lot prior to the fire departments arrival.   The fire caused approximately $5,000 in damage to the police vehicle.  Investigators seized a charred sock located within the fuel filler of the damaged vehicle, a bottle with the odor of gasoline was located on the sidewalk, behind the damaged vehicle, and another charred sock located between the vehicle and the sidewalk.

On June 2, 2020, investigators were notified that a fingerprint was lifted from the seized bottle recovered at the scene and determined the fingerprint belonged to Davis.

On June 3, 2020, Davis was interviewed at his residence where he admitted to being the subject who intentionally set the police vehicle at the Southeast District on fire. DAVIS stated that after leaving the protest, he and his friend traveled to the RPSDS, where he retrieved the bottle of gasoline and poured a small amount of gasoline on a sock and put another sock in to the mouth of the bottle.  DAVIS placed the gasoline-soaked sock in the fuel filler of the police vehicle and set it on fire.  As DAVIS ran back towards his friend’s vehicle, he set the bottle with the sock on fire and threw it toward several parked police vehicles.  However, when he threw it, the burning sock fell out, catching the grass and straw on fire. 

G. Norman Acker, III, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III. The Raleigh Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel W. Smith  prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:20-CR-00433-D.