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A Florida man who posted anti-Islamic material on social media and has been revealed as a Donald Trump supporter was arrested Wednesday and faces hate crime charges over setting fire to a mosque attended by Omar Mateen, the gunman who committed the June mass shooting at the Pulse gay club in Orlando.
The suspect, Joseph Michael Schreiber, 32, faces at least 30 years in prison if convicted of committing Monday's arson attack on the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office.
At a news conference announcing the arrest, Sheriff's Office Major David Thompson said Schreiber owns a motorcycle like the one seen in the video. Thompson said tips from the public led investigators to the suspect and his home in nearby Port St. Lucie, where a search turned up additional evidence tying him to the crime.
An examination of Schreiber's social media account also uncovered "multiple anti-Islamic posts and comments," Thompson said, and added the posts were the reason behind the hate crime charge.
Schreiber's Facebook page includes posts supporting Donald Trump and others saying all forms of Islam are radical.
He said all Muslims "should be considered TERRORIST AND CRIMANALS and all hoo participate in such activity should be found guilty of WAR CRIM until law and order is restored in this beautiful free country."
Fire erupted at mosque at about 12:30 a.m. local Time Monday, coinciding with one of the holiest of Muslim holidays – Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice – and authorities immediately branded the blaze an arson attack. There was security footage of the attack showing a man setting fire at the mosque before fleeing on his motorcycle.
The Islamic Center of Fort Pierce is where Omar Mateen used to pray before he shot 49 people to death and wounded 53 others at the Pulse nightclub in June.
Mateen himself was killed by law enforcement officers at the end of the shooting in Orlando, about 100 miles northwest of the Atlantic coast town of Fort Pierce.
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Schreiber, who was being held without bond, was expected to make his first court appearance on Thursday. He has been charged with arson, and his status as a "prison release re-offender" qualifies him for a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 30 years if convicted, authorities said.
And as a "habitual felony offender" whose criminal record includes armed robbery, Schreiber also would be eligible for a possible life term in prison, according to authorities.
The Fort Pierce Islamic Center has reported numerous threats of violence and intimidation since it was identified publicly as Mateen's place of worship. In June a motorcycle gang circled the property and shouted at its members, and in July a Muslim man was beaten outside the mosque.
The incident comes amid a tense political and social climate in the U.S. where Trump has gained millions of supporters using xenophobia and Islamophobia through calling for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. and calling Mexican immigrants “rapists and drug dealers”.
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