Woman Arrested After Attempting To Burn Down Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birth Home

Atlanta police arrested 25 year old Laneisha Shantrice Henderson on Dec. 7 after she attempted to burn down Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home. She was charged with criminal attempt arson and criminal attempt interference with government property.

Filmmaker Zach Kempf, a witness says he spotted Henderson pouring gasoline on the property.

Video shows Henderson standing on the front porch of the Martin Luther King Jr. home with a five-gallon red, plastic, gasoline tub pouring gasoline on the front window and in the bushes.

Kempf said she threw the empty canister into the bushes then tried to spark a lighter. That’s when he says he called 911.

Henderson’s father and sisters says she suffers from a mental illness. The family arrived shortly after she was stopped. They had tracked Henderson using her phone location signal.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s home is a two-story Queen Anne-style house dated to 1895. The civil rights activist lived in the home for the first 12 years of his life. It is now a federal landmark and part of Atlanta’s Auburn Avenue Historic District.