Two Held in Arson at Home in Kenner
By Mary Swerczek

Two Jefferson Parish teen-agers were booked with simple arson in an incident where two bottles were set on fire outside a Kenner home in April, authorities said.
Originally thought, at least by the victim, to be a hate crime because the resident of the house is Muslim and had reported several earlier incidents of vandalism, police now believe the motive behind the April incident was “mischief,” said Capt. James Gallagher, Kenner Police Department spokesman. Gino P. Holmes, 19, of 3013 Independence Ave., Apt. B, Metairie, and Brook Ranshi, 17, of 3340 Maine Ave., Kenner, who lives near the vandalized house, are suspected of setting the fires.
They allegedly removed a welcome mat from in front of a door of the house on Maine Avenue and placed it on the driveway topped with a plastic bottle of flammable liquid set on fire, Gallagher said.
A second plastic bottle containing a flammable liquid was set on fire on the sidewalk leading up to the home, Gallagher said.
There was no damage to the residence. Holmes and Ranshi have not been charged in the previous incidents of vandalism reported by the homeowner. In March, the resident reported that vandals threw eggs, bacon and condiments at his front door and car Muslims are forbidden to eat bacon. The resident also reported on Jan.
15 that eggs were thrown against his house and fireworks were set off on his front porch….
(Times-Picayune, 6/29/06)

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