Media Silence - Fire Jihad in Staten Island, NY!— Amy Mek❌ (@AmyMek) August 6, 2018
Fakrol Islam, 26, was charged with arson, reckless endangerment & criminal mischief for igniting gas station on fire!
Police still don’t know why Islam set the fire?! #MentalIllness #MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/DPKms54BnI
New York Post
written by Joe Tacopino
Friday August 3, 2018
A man caught on video nearly setting himself on fire after he sparked a blaze at a Staten Island gas station was arrested, cops said Friday.
Fakrol Islam, 26, was charged with arson and reckless endangerment for igniting the massive burst of flames outside a 7/11 at Richmond Avenue and Victory Boulevard early Monday morning, according to police.
Islam could be seen on video filling a portable gas tank and intentionally spraying the gas on the floor before lighting a piece of paper with a match.
A 21-year-old man nearby suffered minor injuries in the blaze.
Islam was apprehended by the NYPD upstate in Buffalo, New York, with assistance from the Buffalo Police Department, police sources told the Post.
He was being treated an area hospital Friday night.
Watch the video. Islam is holding the lighter and paper in his hand. This was premeditated. The media is making excuses for him. (emphasis mine)
SIlive.com, Staten Island local news
written by Frank Donnelly fdonnelly@siadvance.com
Wednesday August 8, 2018
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Brooklyn man accused of trying to set a Bulls Head gas station ablaze last week was indicted Wednesday in his hospital bed on attempted arson and other charges.
Fakrol Islam, 26, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, said his lawyer Yan Katsnelson.
"My office is doing a full investigation into the events of the case and my client's psychiatric history," said Katsnelson, who did not comment further.
Police said Islam was caught on surveillance video starting the fire at the 7-Eleven on Victory Boulevard near the intersection of Richmond Avenue around 1:50 a.m. on July 30.
The footage, from two cameras, shows a man attired in a white long-sleeve shirt and dark shorts exiting a minivan that had just pulled up to a gas pump. The man leaves the frame, then returns carrying a red cannister.
He pours gasoline into the receptacle, douses the ground, lights a white piece of cloth or paper, and sets it on the gasoline puddles.
The ground erupts into flames, sending the man stumbling backward. Both shoes or sandals the man is wearing ignite, and he kicks them off, the tapes show.
He then fled the scene, said police.
Police could not provide a motive, but said Islam went into the store to buy the canister.
Islam, who apparently suffered burn injuries, was arrested on Aug. 2 in upstate Buffalo, said Katsnelson.
Another customer who was filling up his vehicle was injured in the blaze.
Gerard Lara, 21, told NBC his first reaction was to duck down behind the car. Once on the ground, he was overcome by smoke and the fire-suppression substance that was discharged and was unable to breathe.
Lara said he managed to make his way inside the store, where he began spitting and coughing up blood.
He suffered some internal bleeding and hurt his lungs but admitted that it could have been worse.
"I could've died," he said, according to the report.
Katsnelson, the lawyer, said Lara was charged with attempted second- and third-degree arson, assault, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.
State Supreme Court Mario F. Mattei, who presided over the arraignment, set bail at $250,000 bond or $150,000 cash.
Islam remains hospitalized.
He was ordered to appear in court on Aug. 17 for a conference.
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