- When responding to a fire at a Planned Parenthood, detectives quickly identified the suspect.
- Joshua Breton posted a YouTube video in which he described abortion as “genocide.”
- Breton now faces a felony charge: arson of an organization that receives federal funding.
On Sunday, investigators in Michigan responded to a report of a fire at a Planned Parenthood facility and quickly determined that the fire was caused by arson. They find a Duraflame fire extinguisher log on the roof that leads to a suspect: Joshua Breton.
Prosecutors on Thursday charged a 25-year-old Michigan man with arson — a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison — after an investigation uncovered a YouTube video in which he described abortion as “genocide.” .”
In court papers, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent reported that Planned Parenthood in Kalamazoo would not be open the next day after the days-long fire.
With the help of a Walmart employee, investigators determined that within a day of the fire, Brayton had purchased a Duraflame starter log about an hour before the first reports of the fire at the Planned Parenthood facility. Brayton’s receipt showed he bought lighter and citronella torch fuel, which investigators suspect was used to set fire to bushes outside a Planned Parenthood building, an ATF agent said.
After releasing surveillance camera footage to the public, detectives also received a tip pointing to Breton. Investigators then “started looking at Brereton,” an ATF agent wrote in an affidavit supporting the arson charge.
On the YouTube channel, investigators found a video of Breton exercising in a short-sleeved shirt with a crown tattoo on his left arm that matched the one seen on the Walmart security camera footage. Investigators also reviewed a July 3 video in which Breton spoke out against abortion.
“Like right now, we’re dealing with genocide. Genocide! Against babies! And people think that’s always a hot topic,” the ATF agent said. “Of course you have neighbors who think it’s okay to kill a baby. And I don’t get into it much other than reading a science book. It’s not a religious argument, it’s not a political argument, scientific law says it’s the fetus. It’s a new human being. And we’re killing that person. Or some people are killing those people. So we have a conflict of interest. We have government approval for the killing of citizens.”
Later in the video, Breton says, “So get out of your comfort zone. Give in. Change the community from the inside out. Don’t put it on someone else and let it get you down. It’s not going to fail.”
The video was posted more than a week after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, nearly half a century after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
A defense attorney has not yet entered a federal court appearance on Bretton’s behalf.
Immediately after the decision was handed down, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the decision would “devastating damage to reproductive freedom in the United States,” and the Justice Department vowed to enforce a law that would make access to reproductive health services illegal. Violence, threats of violence, or property damage.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department argued that Idaho filed a lawsuit over a strict state abortion law set to take effect this month that would prevent emergency room doctors from providing necessary abortions to women who are experiencing medical emergencies. The next day at the White House, Garland pointed to the lawsuit as evidence and said the Justice Department would “consider every tool at our disposal” to prevent states from violating federal protections for reproductive rights.
Five weeks ago, I pledged that the Department of Justice would work tirelessly to protect reproductive freedom, and we would not shirk our responsibility to protect the civil rights of all Americans. Reversal of Ro. That’s what we’ve done, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.
