The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Training center protester indicted on arson charge
July 1 fire destroyed 8 APD motorcycles at old academy.
A protester against the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center was indicted last week, after being arrested in early February for his alleged involvement in the burning of police motorcycles at a precinct in July.
John Robert Mazurek, 30, was indicted by a Fulton County grand jury Feb. 29 on one charge of arson in the first degree.
The fire, which occurred on July 1, 2023, destroyed eight Atlanta Police Department motorcycles at the city’s old training academy on Southside Industrial Parkway.
According to the indictment, Mazurek is accused of “unlawfully, by means of fire, knowingly aid another in damaging vehicles.”
The warrant, which was secured by the Atlanta Fire Department, alleges Mazurek “did knowingly damage by means of fire, explosives, a dwelling house, building, vehicle, the property of the City of Atlanta.”
Mazurek was taken into custody without incident, after a task force comprised of state and local police and fire department officials executed search warrants on the morning of Feb. 8 for “three locations connected to acts of vandalism and arson that have occurred over the last three months,” Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a press conference announcing the arrest. No other arrest was made.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office took the case to the grand jury.
Mazurek was denied bond on Feb. 9, due to being considered a “danger to community and property” and having a “significant risk to re-offend,” according to the order denying bond. He is being held at the Fulton County Jail.
No other arrests have been made in the weeks since the February press conference.
Days after Mazurek was arrested, an Atlanta police vehicle was found burning in southeast Atlanta.
An anonymous faction of opponents of the training center claimed responsibility for burning the police vehicle saying the arson was in response to recent law enforcement action, including Mazurek’s arrest.
The arsons being investigated date back to May 2022, when someone broke a window at the back of the At-Promise Center and tossed in four Molotov cocktails and an incendiary device.
Other fires have been set since then, including a contractor’s equipment set on fire a third time in October and vehicles owned by Erns Concrete were set ablaze in Gwinnett County in November.
Most of the arsons have targeted contractors or agencies connected to the construction of the facility.