In the case of the arson on the US warship “Bonhomme Richard” just over a year ago, the investigating authorities have now achieved success.
San Diego – A little over a year ago, on July 12, 2020, a great fire started on the warship “USS Bonhomme Richard”, which was anchored in the US Navy headquarters in Coronado, near the southern California city of San Diego in the USA lay. The emergency services needed a total of five days to fight the flames and extinguish the fire.
The damage caused was so great that the ship had to be decommissioned. Now the investigation points to arson. Accordingly, the US Navy accuses a sailor of having been responsible for the inferno, as reported by the American news portal thedailybeast.com.
US warship set on fire out of grudge against the Navy
According to the reports, a 20-year-old is accused of starting the fire on the warship “Bonhomme Richard”, causing the Navy to damage property of over 30 million US dollars. The motive is resentment against the Navy, which he is said to have harbored due to a failed attempt to become a Seal – that is, a member of the special unit of the US Navy.
This emerges from a statement by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the law enforcement agency of the US Navy, which was apparently submitted after a search warrant was issued for the suspect’s home and which is also available to the news portal The Daily Beast.
After fire on the “USS Bonhomme Richard”: Serious allegations against the suspect
As a result, the suspect is Sailor Ryan Sawyer Mays. He is now to be charged with arson within a special and territorial jurisdiction, it is said. He is also accused of damaging US state property through the use of fire and false testimony. However, it is also possible that the Navy will go to court-martial instead. Then Mays would be charged with serious arson and willfully endangering a ship, according to a spokesman for the US Navy. Mays himself did not list any legal counsel in his court files.
As confirmed by the NCIS, Mays had suspected the investigators: immediately after the fire on the amphibious assault ship “Bonhomme Richard”. In the fire, every deck above the waterline of the 40,000 ton ship was damaged. A total of around 400 sailors: inside of 16 ships, helicopters, the fire brigade of Naval Base Coronado and numerous civil fire brigade units from the surrounding cities were on duty to fight the fire. A total of 71 people were injured in the fire on the US Navy warship or treated with smoke inhalation in hospital. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured or even killed.
Fire on US warship: US authorities arrest suspects for arson
In the course of the investigation of the fire on the US warship, a total of 177 sailors who served on board the “USS Bonhomme Richard” were questioned by the NCIS investigators. According to this, statements about a “fair-skinned man” in a clean uniform and face mask, who is said to have brought a metal bucket into the section of the ship affected by the fire, increased. The NCIS statement also shows that a respondent named Kenji Velasco mentioned “a sailor named Mays who hates the US Navy and the navy,” according to The Daily Beast.
In further interviews, Velasco said he was “fairly certain” or “90 percent certain” that he saw suspect Ryan Sawyer Mays just before the fire broke out. He also found tampering with the fire extinguishing equipment in the relevant part of the ship. According to the report, statements by other respondents who were on board the US warship at the time of the crime also point to the suspect.
In his questioning, Mays got himself caught up in inconsistencies about his private life. Nevertheless, he announced that he wanted to undergo a polygraph test to prove his innocence. As The Daily Beast reports, Mays is said to have incriminated himself in the presence of two other sailors, which ultimately led to the 20-year-old’s arrest.
Fire on US warship: Authorities become aware of suspicious Instagram post
On the suspect’s Instagram profile, which is no longer public, a post also drew the investigators’ interest. Mays wrote, “I love the scent of napalm in the morning.” To understand: Napalm is a flammable gelatinous mass, the main component of which is gasoline and can be used as an incendiary weapon.
According to investigating authorities, Ryan Sawyer Mays joined the U.S. Navy in 2019. Initially with the intention of completing an apprenticeship. Eventually, however, according to reports, he changed his career goals and aspired to become a Navy Seal. However, Mays broke off training for the special unit after only five days and was assigned as a sailor without distinction to the warship “USS Bonhomme Richard”. The investigations against the 20-year-old main suspect Mays have not yet been concluded.
In November 2020, the U.S. Navy announced that the warship would no longer be repaired, as repairs would cost up to $ 3.2 billion. The ship had been in service since 1998. In April 2021 the “Bonhomme Richard” was finally taken out of service after a component had been dismantled. (yw)
