‘ALL WORTH IT’

Illinois Man Charged With Setting Fire to Planned Parenthood Clinic

Security footage from the incident shows a man walking up to the building, lighting a rag stuffed in a bottle on fire, smashing a window, and placing the object inside.

An Illinois man was charged with malicious use of fire after prosecutors said he set a Planned Parenthood clinic ablaze earlier this month, federal law enforcement said Wednesday. Tyler W. Massengill, 32, was also charged with one count of using an explosive to damage—and another count of attempt to damage—the clinic in Peoria. The U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement that security footage had shown a man approaching the clinic with a bottle on the night of Jan. 15. The man lit a rag on one end of the bottle on fire, smashed a window, and placed the device inside. He then quickly fled on foot. After he was arrested by Peoria police on Tuesday, Masengill initially denied his involvement in the incident, but later admitted to setting the fire, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Peoria Journal Star. He told investigators a former girlfriend had an abortion three years ago, and that if his actions caused “a little delay” in the clinic’s ability to operate and serve patients, then it would have been “all worth it.”