A 21-year-old college student has come forward to claim responsibility for burning a cross in a popular Chicago park last week, but denied he was making a racist statement despite city leaders initially condemning it as an act of hate.A University of Illinois Chicago senior told NBC 5 Chicago on Monday that he was the person seen leaving the scene at Grant Park last week, where onlookers filmed a cross in flames. The man explained he was protesting President Donald Trump and had put a red hat on the cross to symbolize the MAGA hat.He said he did not realize that the protest would be viewed as racial."I did know about this historical relevance beforehand," the man told NBC 5.
"But I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did.'Cause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender."A University of Illinois Chicago student told NBC 5 Chicago he lit a cross on fire in Grant Park to protest the Trump administration.
(Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images)TOP DEM FUNDRAISER SLAMMED FOR HONORING NAZI OFFICER IN SOCIAL MEDIA POST: ‘DISTURBING TREND’Hours after the report aired, the Chicago Police confirmed to NBC 5 that a person of interest was in custody in connection with the viral incident.The department put out a community alert on June 11 asking for the public's assistance in seeking a person of interest who was "observed fleeing from the scene where an object was constructed and lit on fire" with an image of a young shirtless man wearing a backpack.In a statement, Chicago Police told Fox News Digital they cannot release the names of potential offenders or persons of interest until they have been charged.According to NBC 5, the student whom they interviewed previously sent the station a video taking responsibility for the incident and apologizing to those offended, while reiterating his anti-Trump stance."I don't want to wait 'til his term ends," he said in the video.
"I don't want to wait until he may or may not get...