Man charged with hate crime in cross burning in Chicago park

U.S. newsMan charged with hate crime in cross burning in Chicago parkThe 21-year-old man was arrested on two felony hate crime counts and other counts in connection with the cross, which was set on fire in Grant Park on June 9, police said.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00ShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 18, 2026, 12:06 AM EDTBy Rebecca Cohen and Phil HelselA 21-year-old man who admitted setting fire to a cross in a Chicago park last week was in custody Wednesday on hate crime charges, Chicago police said.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Merlin Lu was arrested Monday on four felony counts and four misdemeanor counts related to the incident on June 9, in which he is alleged to have “committed a hate crime by starting a fire that caused damage to city property,” police said in a statement Wednesday.The large cross was found burning in Grant Park, prompting police to search for the perpetrator and release a photo of the man they said was responsible.Lu told NBC Chicago on Monday that he was responsible for the cross burning, which has a long history in acts of racial terrorism against Black people, but said he intended it to be a protest of the federal government, not a hate crime, the station reported. “I did know about this historical relevance beforehand, but I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” Lu told the station. “Because my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.”Lu, a senior at the University of Illinois Chicago, said he placed a red hat on top of the cross to protest President Donald Trump’s administration. Asked how he landed on burning a cross, Lu told the station that it “came up to my head one day.” “I wanted to find something that I could do by myself, like no organization, no friends,” he said. Lu said he should have protested another way but did not regret his actions.NBC Chicago said it received a vide...