Hunstville Man Charged With Setting MS. Police Station Ablaze
By J. Thomas Wade
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
November 4, 2026
SENATOBIA, MS. A man who resides in Huntsville, Alabama is now accused of setting a police station on fire in Mississippi.
ATF Special Agent Joshua Garrett wrote in a sworn affidavit that Senatobia police and firefighters responded at around 4:35 a.m. on Saturday to a fire at the department at 114 N. Center St. in Senatobia.
Surveillance video shows a person in dark clothing, wearing a hood, and a mask, then breaking a window with what appears to be a hammer, according to the affidavit. The video also showed that the man later identified as Garrick Rawls carrying a gasoline can.
Rawls is charged with maliciously damaging or attempting to damage a building by fire or explosive, a federal offense.
The complaint was sworn on Monday before a U.S. magistrate judge in Oxford, Mississippi.
A preliminary and detention hearing is set for 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 5, at the U.S. Courthouse in Huntsville. If Rawls plans to waive the hearing, his attorney must file a written waiver at least one business day before it, the order says.
Investigators said they found a partially burned boot, two latex gloves, a mostly burned hammer, and a gas can nozzle near the scene.
Garrett wrote that after investigators described the suspect, several people directed law enforcement to Rawls. The affidavit describes Rawls as a civil rights activist who has been active in protests in Senatobia since the death of Kohen Wiley, a 1-year-old boy who was killed by a Mississippi police officer outside of a Walmart in June.
Investigators also cited hotel surveillance video, license plate reader data, and cell phone location data in the affidavit. According to the affidavit, T-Mobile provided location data on an emergency basis. The data showed Rawls’ phone near a cell tower in the Huntsville area.
ATF agents from Oxford Mississippi and Huntsville Alabama conducted surveillance at a Huntsville-area property Monday morning. At about 9:20 a.m., agents said they saw Rawls leave a nearby home with a large white bandage on his right leg and a noticeable limp.
Senatobia Police Chief Lamorris Hampton told Garrett the fire shut down the department for an extended time during the investigation because of manpower issues and managing the scene, according to the affidavit.
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