Man arrested in Pulse memorial fire told police he didn’t do it, affidavit says

Mark Anthony Henson, the 64-year-old man charged with lighting a fire at the Pulse Interim Memorial, told Orlando police he didn’t do it, although he acknowledged he is the person shown in a security video pushing his wheelchair through the site at the time the fire began, newly released records show.

According to an affidavit in support of his arrest, Henson, who is homeless, said he had been discharged from nearby Orlando Regional Medical Center on the day of the fire. He also said he was told to leave the property of Dunkin’ Donuts, just across the street, before going to the memorial at 1912 South Orange Ave.

The fire occurred about 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 12 but was not immediately reported to police. A spokesman for the nonprofit onePulse Foundation, which owns the property, said the charity first wanted to confirm through surveillance footage that the fire was intentionally set.

Henson was arrested Tuesday. “Though [Henson] continued to agree that was him in the video, he denied lighting the fire,” the affidavit by OPD Officer Todd Tinetti states. “In the video, no one else is seen in the memorial[.] [T]he fire starts immediately after [Henson] approaches the particular area and [he] quickly leaves as soon as it starts. At no time does anyone else [approach] the fire to indicate someone else started it. [Henson] stated he is a smoker.”

The fire caused $3,000 in damage to the memorial, which honors the 49 people killed in a June 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub. The onePULSE Foundation is working to build a permanent memorial there and a museum about a half-mile away.