Olajuwon Johnson, 25, of Bridgeport, has been charged with third-degree arson following an incident at the East End Yacht Club at around 2:30 p.m. on Monday.
Scott Appleby, the city’s director of emergency management and emergency communications, told the Fairfield Citizen Bridgeport Police had received reporting a man with a can of gasoline on a boat.
The 911 caller reported smelling smoke before noticing that a boat cooler was on fire. He extinguished the flames himself.
Police were then provided a description of the suspect. A man who later matched the description, later identified as Johnson, was found and detained.
The man who made the 911 call also identified Johnson as the person he saw on the boat.
Johnson was arrested and charged with third-degree arson. His bond was set at $10,000.
The owner of the boat, Mark Bourque, said that Jonson was found by police holding a gas can.
Bourque said there was not a lot of damage to his boat as the witnesses reacted to the fire quickly.
Bourque told News 12 Connecticut he believes his boat was targeted because of the Trump 2020 banner displayed.
“It’s a shame you can’t represent and support your president without somebody trying to set your boat on fire,” Bourque said.
Bridgeport Police have been contacted for further comment.
Elsewhere, hundreds of boats took part in a so-called “Trump boat parade” down a section of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts on Sunday.
The flotilla of Trump supporters began their parade in Hadley before making their way southbound along the Connecticut River to Brunelle’s Marina and onto the Boy Scout Island area.
“I support President Trump and I support the Wilbraham Police and all the police,” Wilbraham resident Phil King, one of those taking part in the parade, told WWLP.
“I think there’s a silent majority of Trump fans in Massachusetts. Even though it’s a blue state, they’re going to flip if they turn it into a red state,” King added.
There have been several similar parades showing support for Trump ahead of the 2020 election, including one over the Fourth of July weekend in South Carolina that may have broken a world record, with as many as 3,400 boats taking part.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the current largest boat parade was held in Terengganu, Malaysia, on 13 September 2014 and featured 1,080 vessels.
