Crime & Law

Chicago Man Facing Hate Crime Charges After Cross Burning in Grant Park

The Chicago man accused of setting ablaze a large cross in Grant Park now faces felony hate crime charges.

Merlin Lu, 21, was charged late Wednesday with two hate crime counts as well as additional charges including arson, property damage, disorderly conduct and cross burning as a means of intimidation. A Cook County judge on Thursday refused to detain Lu in jail pending trial, but ordered that he is barred from purchasing items that can be used to start a fire, such as wood or kerosene.

Lu is accused of setting the cross on fire on June 9, causing damage to city property in the 600 block of South Columbus.

According to Cook County prosecutors, Lu was seen on surveillance video on June 9 walking toward Grant Park while holding two long planks of wood. Once inside the park, he allegedly used a hammer and nails to construct the cross before wrapping it in toilet paper and dousing it in a gallon of kerosene.

Lu then tied a red hat to the top of the cross, propped it against a tree and lit it on fire, prosecutors said.

Officers called to the scene extinguished the fire — which caused approximately $1,800 worth of damage to the nearby tree, prosecutors said — and recovered a hammer, nails, a lighter, a cigarette butt and a kerosene bottle cap.

Investigators used facial recognition technology and matched a photo of Lu fleeing the scene to his driver’s license photo, according to prosecutors.

The CPD’s Major Crimes Division and the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested Lu on Monday in the 1400 block of South Halsted.

Following his arrest, Lu allegedly admitted to police that he had assembled and burnt the cross.

The Chicago Police Department released a photo of Lu last week as investigators sought who they said at the time was a person of interest related to the fire.

He then gave an interview to NBC Chicago in which he claimed the incident was meant as a protest against President Donald Trump, rather than as an act of hate against any group of individuals.

Cross burnings in the U.S. have historically been seen as “symbols of hate” that are “inextricably intertwined with the history of the Ku Klux Klan,” according to a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision written by the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The justices ruled that the First Amendment allows bans on cross burnings only when they are intended to intimidate because the action “is a particularly virulent form of intimidation.”

“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand,” he told NBC Chicago, “but I didn’t know the severity. How racially motivated it may seem from what I did.”

Asked if he should have carried out his protest some other way, Lu replied: “Yeah, probably.”

He is due back in court for a hearing June 22.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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