A suspect was arrested on Wednesday on arson charges for setting fire to a 50-foot Christmas tree outside of Fox News headquarters in New York.
Shannon Bream, anchor of Fox News’ Fox News @ Night, reported on the blaze early on Wednesday.
.@ShannonBream offers an update on the Fox News Christmas tree, which caught fire earlier tonight: "The fire appears to be out for now. Moments ago, you could see it was engulfed in flames. No word of any injuries there. We saw the crews there, bravely fighting through this." pic.twitter.com/Zs5ZUV3cMm
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 8, 2021
Police identified the suspect as a 49-year-old man and said that he climbed the tree and lit the fire.
“The fire was extinguished and responding officers arrested the suspect, who has been charged for this crime,” police said.
According to the Associated Press, the suspect was homeless, and he also faces charges of criminal mischief and trespassing. No injuries were reported.
Fox News The tree was outside the News Corp. headquarters in midtown Manhattan.
Fox & Friends also featured the incident on its show on Wednesday, as the hosts lamented the safety of the city. Co-host Brian Kilmeade connected the incident to criminal justice policy and the Defund the Police movement. “How soon until this psycho is out again to burn somebody else’s tree down or grab some weapon and harass somebody in the subway.” Co-Host Peter Doocy cautioned that “we don’t know the specific details yet. The police report has not been filed. We just heard what some of our security has said.”
The tree was lit in a ceremony on Sunday.
Suzanne Scott, the CEO of Fox News Media, sent a memo to employees on Wednesday morning about the incident.
“We will not let this deliberate and brazen act of cowardice deter us. We are in the process of rebuilding and installing a new tree as a message that there can be peace, light and joy even during a dark moment like this.”
