Some say man with Molotov cocktail not usually threatening

Beaumont Police have arrested a homeless man accused of threatening to burn people with a homemade weapon at the Greyhound bus station.

61-year-old Ernest Jackson is charged with possessing a prohibited weapon and attempted arson.  Police say he also threatened to burn down Henry's Place, a center providing help to the homeless.

Some say the threat illustrates larger issues affecting the homeless.

"He approached me and asked me, 'why don't you talk to me?'  I specified to him I don't socialize and associate with everybody," says a witness.

A man who doesn't want to be identified says he got into an argument with 61-year-old Ernest Jackson Wednesday night at the Greyhound bus station on Magnolia Avenue.

"Mr. Jackson came back down there and started making noise.  We wouldn't pay him no mind, wouldn't give him anything to go off on," says the witness.

He says that's when Jackson walked away.

"We have an unfortunate situation for a gentleman that is a veteran and obviously needs additional services," says Paula O'Neal.

Paula O'Neal works with the homeless through Some Other Place.  O'Neal says she understands the situation was a disagreement between the  men that escalated.

The witness says Jackson walked down the street, but not very far before he returned to the bus station.

"I guess he was just mad about something, maybe alcohol had a lot to do with it, maybe something on his mind," says the witness.

A witness says he returned with a beer bottle with gasoline and a rag inside.  Threatening to light it.

"He could see you on the street and speak to you, 'how you doing ma'am?'  'how you doing, sir?'" says the witness.
He also made a threat to burn down Henry's Place. 

Many people who know Jackson say this is uncharacteristic of him.  They told us he's usually very clean, polite and tries to stay out of trouble. 

"When something like this happens it not only negatively impacts the person it happens to, by being arrested or shunned, it also negatively impacts the other homeless people that have been living by the rules and not causing trouble," says O'Neal.

O'Neal says what happened points to the need for more services for the homeless, from mental health care, to substance abuse programs.  And doesn't illustrate how most of the homeless would react to a situation.

"Tragic things know no class," says O'Neal.

Jackson has a criminal record including assault in 1980, a threat to injure a person in 1983 and carrying a prohibited weapon in 1983. Jackson received a 7 year sentence on that charge.