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(Chicago, Illinois) Chicago police Wednesday night arrested a young woman and charged her with arson for the burning of about 100 books in the LGBT section of a city library.
Erica Graham, 21, is scheduled to appear in court later today. She is described as homeless and regularly seen in the area near the library branch in the heavily gay East Lakeview neighborhood.
The arrest came a day after officials acknowledged the fire may have been a hate crime. Both the Chicago Police Bomb & Arson Unit and the Police Departments Civil Rights Unit were involved in the investigation.
But following Graham's arrest authorities said homophobia was not a factor, although they have been unable to determine a motive. Police say that no one else is being sought in connection with the blaze.
The library branch contains about 1,000 volumes.
The possibility the fire was set as a hate crime was first raised by the city's LGBT community because of the timing. The blaze occurred last week - about ten days before Chicago holds its LGBT pride parade and a week after the Senate rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to bar same-sex marriage. As well, this summer Chicago will host the Gay Games, an event that has received considerable publicity. (story)
The fire was quickly put out and library officials said earlier this week that the books all will be replaced. Some editions are out of print and librarians are attempting to reach the authors to hunt down replacement copies.
©365Gay.com 2006
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