Madison Police Chief Discusses Arson at Wisconsin Family Action Office

Tuesday, May 10th, 2022 -- 1:01 PM

(Raymond Neupert, WRN) Madison Police chief Shon Barnes couldn't share much information about arson at Wisconsin Family Action over the weekend.

“I have no indication that this was an inside job, the person who owns the building wasn't there at the time. And so I don't know, there's always going to be conspiracy theories."

Barnes says violence over free speech is not the answer, despite the increased tension over abortion rights. "I can tell you that there's no there's no place in Madison or anywhere else for this because it could have gone differently, I think if someone had been there."

Barnes says no one should be resorting to violence over abortion rights. "And if you're thinking about doing something like that, I would recommend that you not, it doesn't look good for your cause. It doesn't look good for our community. And that's not what we expect."

Barnes did confirm that an incendiary device was used to start a fire Sunday morning. There was some fire damage to the inside of one office and some graffiti on the outside of the building.

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