The man who pleaded guilty in a winter 2020 arson attack on Capitol Hill’s Queer/Bar has been sentenced to four years in jail, the United States Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

Kalvinn Garcia, 26, was sentenced to 48 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his “bias-motivated arson” at 11th Ave’s Queer/Bar. CHS reported here on Garcia’s May 2022 guilty plea.

The DOJ did not provide an explanation for the long delay in Garcia’s sentencing. In May 2023, Garcia was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation by the court.

“The potential for panic and trampling and death is incredible… Hate is hate, whether it is impacted by mental health or not,” U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour said at the sentencing hearing, according to the DOJ.

Prosecutors say Garcia was driven by his anger over his homelessness and tried to set fire to the Pike/Pine gay bar in February, 2020.

Garcia picked his target, police say, when he saw the word “queer” on the building. The bar was full at 9 PM on a Monday night.

“Garcia stated he had just been kicked out of the place he was staying and was homeless,” the SPD report on his arrest reads. “He expressed that he does not like and blames the ‘fucking queers and fucking fairies’ for his situation.”

According to court documents, the blaze was set at approximately 9 PM in a large recycling dumpster next to the building — in an alleyway it shares with the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct. The flames leapt up the side of the building toward the second floor, where at least 50 people were attending an event while several customers were inside the club on the first floor.

SPD officers were dispatched and quickly located the suspect in the 1400 block of Broadway where he was apprehended after a short chase.

The brick exterior of the building was scorched and the fire resulted in the cancelation of events planned at the nightclub for several days but there were no reported injuries.

Garcia was originally charged in King County Superior Court with arson and a hate crime, but was released from jail due to COVID-19 restrictions. A federal grand jury returned the arson indictment in January, 2021. He was transferred into federal custody after serving out a jail sentence for theft in Whatcom County.

Garcia, 24 at the time of the fire, is a Sedro Woolley resident but court records don’t reveal why he was in Seattle that February night.

While damage was limited, the attempt echoes another arson attack on a popular Capitol Hill venue at Neighbours on New Year’s Eve 2013 when more than 700 people were partying to ring in 2014 and an arsonist set the iconic gay dance club on fire. No one was seriously injured thanks to fast acting staff and patrons who were able to douse the flames before they spread to the packed dance floor. Musab Masmari admitted to setting the fire inside the crowded club, blaming his actions on drinking too much alcohol. Police and FBI arrested Masmari following a month-long investigation into the New Year’s Eve arson. A 10-year sentence was handed down in that case.

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