When Merlin Lu burned a cross in Grant Park earlier this month, prosecutors charged him with two hate crimes. Now, court records reveal who, exactly, he is accused of targeting: Black people and Christians. The details emerged from court filings and police reports that became available after Lu’s initial court appearance.
Lu, 21, faces two counts of hate crime, along with arson and other charges, for the June 9 incident near Columbus Drive in Grant Park. While public discussion initially focused on the cross-burning’s historical association with racial intimidation, court records show prosecutors are also treating the act as a religion-based hate crime because it involved burning a cross, the central symbol of Christianity.
According to court filings, Lu told investigators he built the cross to protest what he described as “MAGA Christian nationalists” who support President Donald Trump. He said he bought blocks of wood, nails, a hammer, and kerosene at a Home Depot on two separate trips over the course of a month, then hauled everything more than a mile from his Near West Side apartment to the park — a location he chose, he allegedly told police, because it was downtown and people would see it. That part of his plan worked flawlessly, as a passerby captured the burning cross on video, and it quickly spread online.
Once in the park, Lu allegedly told detectives, he assembled the cross, wrapped it in toilet paper, tied a red MAGA-style cap to the top, dumped a gallon of kerosene on it, and set it on fire. Although, he did take a break during the cross construction phase to smoke a cigarette. According to court filings, he told detectives he learned how to start the fire by watching YouTube.
Lu, who told detectives he studied chemistry, said he merged the cross and the red hat in his message because he associated them with MAGA Christian nationalism, officials said. He told investigators he held no grievances against Christians broadly, only those who want to impose Christianity on the entire country, detectives noted. But prosecutors argue that burning a cross in a public park with the mindset Lu described suggests an anti-Christian message was intended.
On the race-based count, Lu has been consistent: he says he had no idea cross burnings carried racial significance or were used by the Ku Klux Klan to terrorize Black people. He told NBC5’s Chuck Goudie before his arrest that he later learned about the history by reading a Wikipedia page. After that interview aired, the University of Illinois Chicago told a WGN reporter that Lu “has not been enrolled with the university since the fall of 2025” — undercutting his claim to be a UIC senior.
When detectives interviewed Lu after his arrest, he repeatedly directed them to his NBC5 interview, telling them it was “very clear about his reason and motivation.” He also told investigators he reached out to NBC5 in the first place because people were misreading his message as anti-Black and he wanted to correct the record. He had tried posting clarifications to TikTok and YouTube first, then took those down and agreed to the on-camera interview instead.
The viral video scene, with flames climbing into a tree’s upper branches, brought a swift response from officials. Gov. JB Pritzker condemned the burning on social media the day after it occurred, writing that the symbol “has one purpose: to stir up intimidation and terror.” Mayor Brandon Johnson called the impact “devastating.” But after Lu’s stated motivations became public, state Rep. Chris Miller said Pritzker owed the public an updated response, arguing the governor had jumped ahead of the facts.
“I look forward to J.B. Pritzker holding Merlin Lu accountable for MAGA hate because MAGA hate shouldn’t have a home here in Illinois, right?” Miller said. Pritzker’s office did not respond to questions about whether his position had changed.
At the June 18 detention hearing, prosecutors asked Judge D’Anthony Thedford to detain Lu pending trial. Thedford refused and also declined to impose electronic monitoring. He did order Lu, however, not to buy materials that could be used to start a fire, such as wood or kerosene.
Lu told investigators he built the cross to protest what he described as “MAGA Christian nationalist supporters” of President Donald Trump. He said he bought blocks of wood, nails, a hammer, and kerosene at a Home Depot on two separate trips over the course of a month, then hauled everything more than a mile from his Near West Side apartment to the park — a location he chose, he told police, because it was downtown and people would see it. Once there, he assembled the cross, wrapped it in toilet paper, tied a red MAGA-style cap to the top, dumped a gallon of kerosene on it, and set it on fire. He even stopped to smoke a cigarette.
He told detectives he learned how to start the fire by watching YouTube.
Lu said he targeted the cross — Christianity’s central symbol — and the red hat together because he associated them with MAGA Christian nationalism. He told investigators he held no grievances against Christians broadly, only those who, in his words, want to impose Christianity on the entire country. But prosecutors argue that burning a cross in a public park sends a message to Christians regardless of the nuance he intended.
On the race-based count, Lu has been consistent: he says he had no idea cross burnings carried racial significance or were used by the Ku Klux Klan to terrorize Black people. He told NBC5’s Chuck Goudie before his arrest that he later learned about the history by reading a Wikipedia page. After that interview aired, the University of Illinois Chicago told a WGN reporter that Lu “has not been enrolled with the university since the fall of 2025” — undercutting his claim to be a current UIC senior.
When detectives interviewed Lu after his arrest, he repeatedly directed them to his NBC5 interview, telling them it was “very clear about his reason and motivation.” He also told investigators he reached out to NBC5 in the first place because people were misreading his message as anti-Black and he wanted to correct the record. He had tried posting clarifications to TikTok and YouTube first, then took those down and agreed to the on-camera interview instead.
Prosecutors laid out a methodical chain of evidence at Lu’s initial court appearance. Police identified him through Illinois Secretary of State facial recognition software, which matched a photo of the man fleeing the scene to Lu’s driver’s license photo. Detectives traced a kerosene bottle cap recovered near the cross to a specific Home Depot, where employees identified it by product number and confirmed Lu bought kerosene and a lighter there on May 31. Surveillance video and a receipt backed up the purchase. After being read his Miranda rights, Lu admitted to buying the materials, building the cross, and burning it. He also identified himself in store and park surveillance stills.
The viral scene — flames climbing into a tree’s upper branches as a crowd gathered — brought a swift response from officials. Gov. JB Pritzker condemned the burning on social media the day after it occurred, writing that the symbol “has one purpose: to stir up intimidation and terror.” Mayor Brandon Johnson called the impact “devastating.” After Lu’s stated motivations became public, state Rep. Chris Miller said Pritzker owed the public an updated response, arguing the governor had jumped ahead of the facts.
“I look forward to J.B. Pritzker holding Merlin Lu accountable for MAGA hate because MAGA hate shouldn’t have a home here in Illinois, right?” Miller said. Pritzker’s office did not respond to questions about whether his position had changed.
At the June 18 detention hearing, prosecutors asked Judge D’Anthony Thedford to detain Lu pending trial. Thedford refused, finding the state had not shown clear and convincing evidence to support the hate crime allegations — though he did reprimand Lu from the bench, telling him the fire endangered everyone in “Chicago’s living room” and could have cost someone their life. Thedford declined to impose electronic monitoring. He did order Lu not to buy cross-burning materials like wood and kerosene.
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