Arson at the Peoria Planned Parenthood

On Sunday, January 15th, 2023, a Planned Parenthood in Peoria was set on fire, with investigators suspecting that it was arson. No people were inside the clinic during the fire. The suspect of the crime was Tyler Massengill, a 32 year old Illinois native. Security footage of the night of January 15th displayed a man arriving at the Planned Parenthood at 11:20 p.m., holding a bottle with a rag stuffed in the end. The footage showed the man lighting the rag, breaking a window, and placing the bottle inside the building. The surveillance cameras also caught a white truck with red doors that drove away moments after the fire was lit.

On January 23rd, a woman reached out to the police to inform them that she had Massengill’s truck in her possession. She claimed that on the 16th, Massengill had dropped his truck off at her house in Sparland. He asked her to paint the red doors white for $300. On January 18th, the woman reached out to Massengill over Facebook asking him to get his truck. She explained that he mentioned how the truck had been on the news but he said, “I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.”

The truck was taken by the FBI on January 23rd, at which point the doors had been painted white. The next day, Massengill called the police and asked to speak about the potential arson. At first, he denied being involved with the crime, but later admitted to it. He confessed that he had broken the window, put the burning bottle inside, and had someone paint over his doors. 

Massengill explained that he had a girlfriend in Peoria who had gotten an abortion 3 years prior, while he was away working in Alaska. He claimed that he had heard something that reminded him about the situation and he became upset. It’s possible that this upsetting news was Illinois signing laws regarding abortion right protection and expanding abortion access, which happened a few days prior. Massengill stated that if the fire caused “a little delay” in providing abortion services to others, then it was “all worth it.”

The fire caused noteworthy damages that officials estimated would cost more than $150,000 in repairs. However, the Planned Parenthood staff estimated the cost to be far greater than this, possibly more than $1 million. The damages were serious enough for the establishment to close for an undetermined amount of time, which could be up to several months.

Massengill has been taken into custody as of January 24th. Depending on what charges he’s convicted of, Massengill faces anywhere from 5 to 40 years in prison for his actions. He would also have 3 years of supervision after being released, and a possible fine of up to $250,000.

Works Cited:

Albek-Ripka, Livia, “Suspect in Arson at Planned Parenthood Clinic Cited Ex-Girlfriend’s Abortion, U.S. Says,” The New York Times, 25 January 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/us/planned-parenthood-peoria-arson.html

Winsor, Morgan, “Illinois man charged with setting fire to Planned Parenthood clinic,” ABC News, 26 January 2023, https://abcnews.go.com/US/illinois-man-charged-setting-fire-planned-parenthood-clinic/story?id=96682791