TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — It was the right place at the right time for two Utah men while on a work trip to Atlanta, Georgia.
Zach Kempf said he had a couple of hours free before going to his hotel Thursday night, so he and his co-worker were looking for what sights they could take in before flying home on Friday.
"We realized Martin Luther King's birthplace was there and so we were, you know, back and forth and said, 'Well, let's go to Martin Luther King's birthplace,'" said Kempf.
The trip to the historic home turned into so much more in just a matter of minutes.
"A woman came up behind me and ... she was standing there and had this big five-gallon gas can," said Kempf.
Kempf took a video on his phone, showing the woman on the front porch of the home.
"What are you doing?" Kempf said during the video. "No, that is gasoline."
He says he kept filming as the woman went to the other side of the home and back.
"She came past me and I didn't notice that there was a lighter in the grass too. She grabbed the lighter and then turned around to come back up the porch," said Kempf.
Kempf told FOX 13 News on Friday that while calling 911, he stood at the entrance of the porch to physically block her from getting back on it.
"Rebuffing her from trying to go up the stairs with the lighter in her hand," Kempf said. "She wasn't like, super-aggressive; you could tell sort of right off that she was, you know, in a kind of not really normal state of mind."
He said other good Samaritans nearby jumped in to help, including two men who were police officers from New York who were in town visiting family.
Kempf's video shows one of them keeping the woman restrained until officers with the Atlanta Police Department arrived.
"Then the detectives, then arson, then Homeland Security, then the parks police... eventually the chief came because it was such a big deal," said Kempf.
According to the Associated Press, officers arrested the 26-year-old woman around 5:45 p.m. Thursday after responding to a report of vandalism in process at the two-story home in the historic Auburn Avenue Historic District.
The police report says the woman was taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation. She's charged with second-degree attempted arson and interference with government property.
Kempf got emotional when talking about one particular moment during the incident.
"The park superintendent who got there a little later was standing next to me and was on the phone... [He] whispered that he was on the phone with Dr. King's daughter, which was... a little bit surreal," said Kempf. "She was just worried about the house."
The Martin Luther King Jr. Center released a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
It said, in part: "Fortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful, thanks to the brave intervention of good samaritans and the quick response of law enforcement."
The King Center released a statement regarding the recent attempt to set fire to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth home pic.twitter.com/q499vpzTji
— The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center (@TheKingCenter) December 8, 2023
"Pay attention to the people around you and how they're doing and what's happening, to stop something bad from happening," said Kempf.
Now that he is back home and reflecting on what happened, Kempf told FOX 13 News he would like to return and actually tour Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth home at some point, adding he's glad it is still there.
