Man arrested for setting fire at Sen. Bernie Sanders' office; motive remains unclear
Source: AP
Updated 11:29 AM EDT, April 7, 2024
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A man was charged Sunday with setting a fire outside the Vermont office of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, federal prosecutors said.
Shant Soghomonian, 35, who was previously of Northridge, California, entered the building on Friday and went to Sanders’ third-floor office where security video showed him spraying a liquid on the door and setting it afire, officials said.
The building’s interior suffered some damage from the fire and sprinklers that doused the area with water, but no one was hurt. Sanders, an independent, was not in the office at the time.
Soghomonian was arrested Sunday on a charge of using fire to damage a building used in interstate commerce, according to a statement from Nikolas Kerest, the U.S. attorney for Vermont. The motive remained unclear. Soghomonian was detained Sunday and could not be reached for comment. It was not immediately known if had a lawyer, and an initial court appearance had not been set, officials said.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/fire-office-sen-bernie-sanders-burlington-vermont-687ac8029cc31b3e950f00923d3ff7e9
= new reply since forum marked as read
But Armenians are too close to Middle Eastern for it to be mental illness. Motive could stump a lot of people here. 
Unless the perp had no idea who's office he was burning, it's likely targeted based on politics.
Well played.
In August, Illinois State Police who had stopped Shant Michael Soghomonian for a possible traffic violation seized an AK-47 rifle and two magazines from his vehicle, along with 11.5 grams of cannabis and a book titled “How to Blow up a Pipeline,” prosecutors said
The man accused of starting a fire outside U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' Vermont office a week ago has had past brushes with the law involving guns and a history of traveling from place to place, prosecutors say in court filings arguing that he should remain detained.
Security video shows Shant Michael Soghomonian throwing liquid at the bottom of a door opening into Sanders’ third-floor office in Burlington and setting it on fire with a lighter last Friday, according to an affidavit filed by a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
snip
Soghomonian, 35, who was previously from Northridge, California, had been staying at a South Burlington hotel for nearly two months and was spotted outside Sanders’ office the day before and the day of the fire, according to the special agent's report.
https://www.necn.com/news/local/man-accused-of-lighting-fire-outside-bernie-sanders-office-had-past-brushes-with-the-law/3207467/
I don't know why he targeted Bernie. He wasn't a right winger. He donated to Bernie's presidential campaign in the past. He was a Democrat. His Facebook also goes by "ArmenianGuardian" and was dedicated to Artsakh. Artsakh is an ethnic Armenian region of disputed ownership. It was invaded and annexed by Azerbaijan on Sep 20, 2023. Purging of Armenians has been ongoing and has been ignored by the US. However, it doesn't make sense to commit arson/terrorism over it. So if it was political, it could be that. But I tend think this guy had other issues.
Wanting to blow up a pipe line indicates he may have had terroristic tendencies. (There was an Armenian terrorist group in the US during the 80's: ASALA - Armenian Secret Liberation Army). Their goal was gain territory for an Armenian homeland. Maybe he got all worked up over the loss of Artsahk.
Link to tweet
https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Shant+Soghomonian
Book was with him before the fall of Artsakh. He did some environmental studies, but as an Armenian myself, can see him really getting worked up over Artsakh. Armenians are much more devoted to Armenian causes than the environment.
Also, he never blew up a pipeline. He committed arson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Blow_Up_a_Pipeline
