Suburban Chicago Man Charged With Setting Fire At FAA Facility

By Jon Graef in News on Sep 27, 2014 3:30PM

(O'Hare by snoopoz)

A 36-year-old man from suburban Chicago was charged with one count of destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities, a felony, following the fire he allegedly set at a Federal Aviation Administration center.

Brian Howard, of Naperville, is still being hospitalized after setting a fire which caused thousands of flights out of Midway and O'Hare airports to be canceled. New details have emerged which portray, sadly, a despondent, suicidal mindset.

Howard reportedly worked at the Aurora, Illinois, FAA facility for eight years, and recently learned he was going to be transferred to Hawaii. The morning of the fire, Howard reportedly posted this message on his Facebook page, according to a FBl criminal complaint posted by the Chicago Tribune.

Take a hard look in the mirror, l have. And this is why l'm about to take out ZAU and my life. April, Pop, love you guys and I am sorry. Leaving you with a big mess. Do your best to move on quickly from me please. Feel like I give a shit for the first time in a long time again ... but not for too long (haha!). So I'm gonna smoke this blunt and move on, take care everyone

ZAU are the call letters for Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center. A relative of Howard's forwarded the message to authorities, who promptly followed up.

The Daily Herald described the early morning scene as follows:

The first firefighter/paramedics on the scene found smoke in the basement of the building and blood on the basement floor. They followed the blood to an area where a floor panel had been pulled away exposing telecommunications cables and other wires. They also found a gas can next to the panel, towels that appeared to have been burned and the roller board case.

The paramedics told authorities they followed a trail of blood and saw a knife, a lighter and then another knife and more blood. They found a shirtless Howard lying beneath a table slicing his own throat with another knife, the FBI said. He also had cuts on his arms.

The paramedics pulled the knife from Howard's hand and took him to an Aurora hospital, according to the FBI.

ln recent years, Illinois has made drastic cuts to its mental health budgets. Illinois cut its mental health funding by $114 million over a two-year period, from 2009 to 2011.

Oak Park columnist Richard Boykin called for the reversal of this trend.

Illinois must reverse its trend of drastically slashing mental health-care funding, effectively turning its back on its own citizens in dire need of support and treatment. Illinois wrongly cut its mental health-care budget by $187 million, from 2009-2012 alone. Despite the tireless work of mental health advocates throughout our communities, the General Assembly has treated mental health care as an afterthought that can be easily tossed aside. Many clinics that relied on state funding have closed and existing clinics face a demand for services that greatly exceeds their capacity. ...

We must send a message to the Illinois legislature that mental health care is a major priority.

Luckily, state voters will have that chance this fall. Here's hoping they take it.