Queens Pharmacist Charged With Setting Fire To Speed Camera: Feds

DOUGLASTON, QUEENS — A Queens pharmacist who wrote about his desire to commit a mass shooting and "take back the country from the ancient, evil, devil worshippers" was arrested and charged with arson Monday for setting fire to a speed camera in Douglaston, federal prosecutors said.

Flushing resident Elijah Song was arrested after police officers spotted him setting fire to a traffic camera at Northern Boulevard and Douglaston Parkway on July 18, then tracked down his car parked behind a nearby fire station, according to records filed in Brooklyn federal court.

Inside the car, investigators found four gasoline canisters, two bottles filled with gasoline, aerosol cans, bolt cutters, a sledge hammer, an eight-inch hunting knife and a metal plate used on the Department of Transportation's traffic cameras, according to court records.

They also found stacks of anti-Semitic propaganda flyers and a spiral notebook with Song's name on it, which included statements supporting the manifesto of the mass shooter who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in New Zealand and expressing a desire to build an AR-15 assault rifle.

In one note, he wrote that he would like to get combat and explosives training and "take back the country from the ancient, evil, devil worshippers," according to prosecutors' memo arguing for Song to be detained pending trial.

Song faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years if convicted, prosecutors said.

Police came across Song during an investigation into the burnings of 17 traffic cameras in northeastern Queens, dating as far back as March, according to a federal law enforcement source.

NYPD officers started surveilling the speed camera at Northern Boulevard and Douglaston Parkway after someone set fire to several others in the neighborhood the night of July 17, according to court records.

Just after midnight, they spotted a man wearing a dark cap and backpack light the camera on fire and ran after him through a nearby cemetery but lost track of him.

Soon after, firefighters saw a man park a silver Toyota Camry on the dead-end street behind their firehouse at 44-01 244 St., where non-FDNY cars are prohibited from parking.

A police officer watching the car saw a motorcyclist wearing a dark helmet with green neon designs pull up to the car two hours later, then chased after him.

The officer found a man wearing the same helmet at a nearby gas station and recognized him as his neighbor, Song, whom he'd seen riding a motorcycle and driving a silver Toyota before.

FDNY fire marshals got a warrant to search the car and discovered the trove of gasoline and tools, as well as Song's handwritten notes and the anti-Semitic flyers.

According to court records, Song has received two speeding tickets.