Man charged for allegedly attempting to burn down DC Metropolitan Police station

A federal grand jury indicted a 39-year-old Washington D.C. native for allegedly threatening and attempting to burn down a Metropolitan Police Department station.

Jerritt Jeremy Pace was charged with receiving an explosive in interstate commerce, using an instrumentality of interstate commerce to threaten the use of explosives, and attempted arson, according to a release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. 

Pace was arrested on May 29 after allegedly making social media posts about wanting to burn down DC Police's Fourth District Station. After the posts, he allegedly filled a laundry detergent container with gasoline, put a wick in it, and set the canister on fire in front of the station.

The container exploded and burned on the sidewalk and the station was not impacted and no one was hurt, according to the release.

If convicted, Pace faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each count, a fine up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release.

“While the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia acknowledges the First Amendment right of individuals to protest peacefully, conduct that poses a grave risk to law enforcement, peaceful protesters and community members alike will be prosecuted,” Acting U.S. Attorney Michael R. Sherwin said in the release.