'Stop Cop City' claims responsibility for arson to Atlanta police car, chief says

ATLANTA - Atlanta police say someone has stepped forward to claim responsibility for setting fire to a patrol car early Saturday morning.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum led a press conference on Saturday and revealed that members of "Defend the Atlanta Forest," commonly called "Stop Cop City" took responsibility for the arson.

The car was found in the 300 block of Greendale Drive in Lakewood Heights just before 4 a.m.

Just two days earlier, an Atlanta man was arrested in connection to a series of arson attacks. That suspect was identified as 30-year-old John Robert Mazurek. He was charged with first-degree arson.

John Robert Mazurek (Atlanta Police Department)

"We are not gonna allow, as a police department or law enforcement community, this city to be held hostage to fear and intimidation through fire," Chief Schierbaum said. "While we have one arrest, other arrests are coming."

Following the patrol car fire in Lakewood Heights, Schierbaum said police developed a person of interest and were granted a search warrant for a residence located at 501 Harper Road SE.

That person of interest is still at large and wanted for questioning.