32-year-old man faces federal arson charge in May 29 fire inside Justice Center at start of Portland protests

A 32-year-old man, identified by investigators partly by his name tattooed across his back, has been charged with arson in federal court, accused of setting and spreading fire May 29 inside the Justice Center at the start of two months of protests in Portland.

Though he’s accused of setting fire to county property, Edward Thomas Schinzing faces a federal charge that alleges he maliciously damaged a building and property belonging to the city of Portland and Multnomah County that receives millions in federal assistance through the U.S. Department of Justice.

Schinzing appeared briefly Tuesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo and is in custody in the jail at the downtown Justice Center, also home to the Portland Police Bureau headquarters. At the time of the fire, the jail held 289 inmates.

Arson is punishable by up to 20 years in prison with a mandatory minimum sentence of five years under federal law.

Investigators say Schinzing was among several hundred people who gathered at North Portland’s Peninsula Park earlier in the evening on May 29 and then walked to the Justice Center.

Photo and video images captured Schinzing at the front of the crowd, crossing the Burnside Bridge, about 10:35 pm., his shirt off and his name vivid on his upper back, according to court records.

By 10:59 p.m., several people broke windows near the northwest corner of the Justice Center and climbed inside.

Three civilian county employees were working in the Multnomah County Sheriff’s corrections records office at the time and “fled for safety as the windows were broken,” according to Cynthia M. Chang, a fire investigator with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

About 30 people entered the office through the broken windows, spray-painting it, damaging computer equipment and furniture and starting fires, according to Chang.

“The fuel for these fires appears to be readily available ordinary combustibles within the Correction Records Department, ignited by an introduced open flame,” she wrote.

Schinzing’s name across his back is clearly seen in photos of him shirtless at the protest and inside the Justice Center office that was damaged, her affidavit says.

Schinzing is suspected of having left the office at one point and returning with a shirt on but wearing the same orange cap, then spreading the fire by lighting paper and moving it into a separate cubicle, according to the affidavit.

At 11:08 p.m., the building’s fire sprinkler system activated, extinguishing the flames.

Schinzing is the first to face federal charges in the fire at the Justice Center, which prompted county and city officials to put up a fence around the building. The fence soon became a flashpoint between protesters demonstrating after George Floyd’s death and police officers stationed in front to guard the building and its occupants.

He was on probation for a domestic violence assault at the time the fire was set in the Justice Center.

Schinzing was sentenced April 16 to five years of probation after he was found guilty of third-degree assault and attempted fourth-degree assault, admitting he had punched his girlfriend in the face with a closed fist in front of her 8-year-old son in a Northeast Portland apartment in late February.

According to Multnomah County court records, Schinzing reported being homeless for the past two years. He has seven prior misdemeanor and two felony convictions.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

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