Foreclosures, arson burn Hunters Brooke owners

By STEVE KILAR, Capital News Service

Published 04/16/11

INDIAN HEAD - Around 4 a.m. on Dec. 6, 2004, William Fitzpatrick left his guard post at the Hunters Brooke subdivision construction site, where more than two dozen homes were nearly complete, knowing that shortly the buildings would be in flames.

The neighborhood, one arsonist said, was "going black" and it had to be stopped before more blacks -- one family was already there, sleeping soundly -- moved in later that month. So after Fitzpatrick left, five young white men crept into the neighborhood and left behind 16 scorched, unlivable houses.