Local Houston-area organizations calling for FBI to investigate Huntsville house fire as hate crime
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Two bodies were found dead after a fire burnt down a home in Huntsville early Saturday morning.
That same home was the target of racist attacks just last month, according to the homeowner. CAIR-Houston and the ADL Southwest are now calling for the FBI to investigate the incident as a hate crime.
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The fire broke out around 2:30 a.m. Saturday on the 23000 block of Piney Point Road in Huntsville.
Two people were found dead, but the homeowner, Mario Roberson, said his home in the Waterwood neighborhood was not being rented out at the time.
Neither victim has been publicly identified.
"Mr. Roberson would like to thank the community for their prayers and support. He is working with authorities to resolve this and get some answers to the questions he has regarding his home being burnt down," said Lana Turner, a representative of Roberson.
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Providing only a statement through his representative, Lana Turner, Roberson cited concerns for his safety.
That same home that caught fire was also previously the target of this racist graffiti last month.
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The spray-painted message said, ‘We don’t like your kind.’
"Some graffiti, which is racist graffiti, was left on his home. And from that we have a lot of concerns over the possibility that this is a hate targeted arson, a targeted arson attacked with hate-filled motives," said William White, the director of CAIR-Houston, a civil rights organization.
Roberson said in a separate incident two weeks later, he was nearly shot while in another home in the same neighborhood. Roberson said the bullet barely missed him.
"The homeowner said in a recent interview that his window was shot out so very concerning signs that this is possibly a hate-filled motive behind this arson, and it's left two people dead," White said.
FOX 26's calls to investigators regarding the fire went unanswered Sunday.