Advertisement

Baltimore police arrest suspected arsonist of pharmacy during Gray riots

By Doug G. Ware
A CVS pharmacy was looted and burned during an April protest at the corner of West North Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue in Baltimore, Md. Wednesday, federal and state authorities announced they had arrested the prime suspect in the case -- 24-year-old Raymon Carter. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
A CVS pharmacy was looted and burned during an April protest at the corner of West North Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue in Baltimore, Md. Wednesday, federal and state authorities announced they had arrested the prime suspect in the case -- 24-year-old Raymon Carter. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

BALTIMORE, July 1 (UPI) -- Baltimore police on Wednesday arrested 24-year-old Raymon Carter, saying he was the arsonist who set fire to a crowded pharmacy in the city during the unrest that followed Freddie Gray's death in April.

Authorities announced the arrest Wednesday, several weeks after the CVS pharmacy on Baltimore's Pennsylvania Avenue was burned to the ground.

Advertisement

Officials previously said the April 27 fire caused more than $1 million in damage.

Carter faces charges of federal arson, officials said, and could be incarcerated between five and 20 years if he is convicted.

The Baltimore Police Department and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been the agencies searching for Carter.

"Raymon Carter burned a CVS, our CVS, to the ground," Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said at a news conference. "The very same CVS that people who live in that neighborhood relied on for their medication, for their food, for toiletries in that community."

"He is a criminal that took advantage of our city when we were most vulnerable," he added.

The intersection of Pennsylvania and North avenues was a location of growing unrest in late April, after word of Gray's death first spread. Gray died April 19, a week after he sustained a fatal spinal injury during arrest and transport by Baltimore police.

Advertisement

Six police officers face criminal charges in Gray's death.

CVS, a national drugstore chain, previously announced that it would rebuild the Pennsylvania Avenue location, as well as another Baltimore branch that was damaged during the riots.

Latest Headlines