NYPD Makes Arrest In Queens Firebombings

Police announced late Tuesday night that they had made an arrest in a spate of Queens firebombings that took place on New Year’s Day.

Ray Lazier Lengend, a 40-year-old Southeast Queens man, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with four counts of arson, one count of arson as a hate crime, and five counts of criminal possession of a weapon.

The incidents — one of which occurred at a mosque along the Van Wyck Expressway — were widely decried by many of New York’s lawmakers and religious leaders.

In a press conference at the Imam Al-Khoie Islamic Center, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said the man responsible for the incidents needed to be brought to justice swiftly.

“The person responsible for these attacks must be punished to the full extent of the law,” Marshall said. “We are the birthplace of religious freedom and cannot tolerate attacks like those which took place on Sunday night.”