Developing criminal case | November 4, 2026. Federal authorities have charged Garrick Rex Rawls in the October 31 fire at Mississippi’s Senatobia Police Department. The allegations have not been proved in court. Daily Junk Food has not independently authenticated the surveillance footage or reviewed the complete federal complaint; the account below attributes its contents to the linked reporting.
The timeline matters: the fire happened before dawn on Halloween, the arrest and complaint followed November 2, and detailed local reporting appeared November 3. This is a developing prosecution, not a new fire breaking out this morning.
What investigators allege
WMC Action News 5 reports that a federal complaint in the Northern District of Mississippi describes a masked person breaking a station window with a hammer around 4:30 a.m., spreading flammable liquid inside and igniting it. An ensuing explosion injured the person, investigators allege.
The station’s account of the complaint says investigators recovered physical evidence, including a partly burned boot, gloves and a gas-can nozzle. It describes investigators using surveillance and cellphone-location information to follow Rawls to Alabama. ATF agents, Huntsville police and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation personnel arrested him Monday, according to WMC. Those are investigators’ assertions and reported investigative steps, not findings by a trial jury.
Police1’s November 3 account identifies the charge as maliciously damaging or attempting to damage property by fire or explosive. It also reproduces ATF New Orleans’ November 2 arrest announcement. The announcement confirms the agency’s arrest account; it does not turn the complaint into a conviction.
The next hearing, and the context that needs care
WMC reports a preliminary and detention hearing scheduled for November 5 at 11:30 a.m. at the federal courthouse in Huntsville. That is a reported schedule, which can change; DJF has not independently checked a subsequent court-calendar entry.
Mississippi Today’s November 3 reporting places the case amid protests following the June police shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch declined criminal prosecution of the officer in October. The outlet reports that Rawls attended demonstrations and that attorneys for both sides did not immediately respond to its requests for comment.
Police1 reports that the affidavit does not identify a motive or establish retaliation for Wiley’s death. Participation in a protest is not proof of responsibility for a fire, and the shooting controversy does not establish a motive in this prosecution.
DJF analysis: keep two accountability questions open
A damaged police station is a serious public-safety matter. A child’s death involving police is also a serious accountability matter. Neither becomes disposable because the other produces a more combustible headline.
The useful questions now concern what the government can substantiate, what the defense challenges and what the court decides. Treating an accusation as an answer sheet would skip the very process that is supposed to test it. A criminal complaint starts an argument in court; it does not finish one on social media.
Follow DJF’s Crime & Courts archive for further accountability coverage. Any later finding, plea or verdict in this case requires its own verified update.
Photograph and credit
File photograph: Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, Washington, D.C., March 31, 2026. APK / CC BY 4.0; resized. Representative federal-justice headquarters, not the Senatobia police station, fire scene or defendant. Photograph source and creator; CC BY 4.0 license.
Editorial note: This article draws on the linked sources and may include clearly labeled opinion or unconfirmed reports. We have not independently verified every source claim. Publication does not establish an unconfirmed claim as fact; developing details may change.
Facts first. Side-eye included.
DJF separates what is confirmed from what is claimed—and tells you why this particular mess is worth your time.