The man charged with setting a warehouse on fire in Southern California this week railed against capitalism and compared himself with another man accused of committing political violence, according to federal court documents released Friday.
During a news conference on Friday, a federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, said the suspect had likened himself to Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare in 2024. Mr. Mangione has pleaded not guilty.
The arson suspect, Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, faces federal and state charges related to a blaze on Tuesday at a warehouse of the Kimberly-Clark paper company outside Ontario, Calif., about 40 miles east of Los Angeles. The fire is estimated to have caused more than $600 million in damages, according to state and federal prosecutors. The 20 employees on site at the time evacuated to safety.
The authorities said Mr. Abdulkarim posted videos to social media as he took a lighter to pallets of paper goods. In one video released by the authorities, Mr. Abdulkarim complains about long hours and low pay as he moves around the 1.2-million-square-foot facility.
“All you had to do was pay us enough to live,” he says.
Stills from the video included in the court filing show a tower of Scott toilet paper being torched by a lighter with branding from the German soccer club Bayern Munich.
“There is an extremely disturbing trend where people are resorting to violence to communicate political messages or economic messages,” Mr. Essayli said.
Mr. Abdulkarim, of Highland, Calif., worked at NFI Industries, a third-party distribution company, according to fire officials, but it was unclear for how long. The company declined to comment.
In a 2024 lawsuit that was later dismissed in state court, Mr. Abdulkarim had also accused a different employer of failing to provide adequate compensation or meal breaks.
If convicted on the federal charges, Mr. Abdulkarim could serve up to 20 years in prison, Mr. Essayli said. The county public defender’s office could not be reached for comment, and members of Mr. Abdulkarim’s family declined to comment.
“Arson for me is a real head-scratcher,” Jason Anderson, the San Bernardino County district attorney, said during the Friday morning press conference. “I do not understand that someone who is suspected of arson does something where they get no value out of it other than to displace people from their jobs, to ruin commerce, to get in the way of labor, to put people in physical harm.”
According to the federal complaint, co-workers of the suspect said they saw him before the conflagration. One witness asked law enforcement officials to conduct a wellness check on Mr. Abdulkarim, who had texted an acquaintance that he wanted to “say goodbye.”
That prompted police officers to search for Mr. Abdulkarim. As the fire roared, they found him about two miles from the warehouse. He first approached the officers with his hands up, throwing his wallet at them when they asked for his name, according to the complaint.
Then he sat on the curb with his legs out, according to footage from an officer’s body-worn camera. When an officer asked whether he worked at the warehouse, Mr. Abdulkarim said, “I’m confessing.”
Bernard Mokam contributed reporting. Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
The post Man Accused of Warehouse Arson Invoked Mangione, Court Files Say appeared first on New York Times.
