A person of interest is in custody in connection with a cross found burning in Chicago's popular Grant Park last week, police confirmed to NBC Chicago Tuesday.

The latest development comes just hours after NBC 5 Investigates identified a 21-year-old college senior who said he is the person in the photo released by police and who described what he did and why. It was not immediately clear if the person in custody was the same man interviewed by NBC 5 Investigates, however for several days, authorities said they were only searching for one person of interest.

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Chicago police and the FBI had been trying to identify the suspect for nearly a week, but the young shirtless man seen running from the burning cross had been a nameless person of interest in a Chicago police arson investigation and the subject of a possible FBI hate crime case.

The burning cross is a century-old flaming symbol of racism and hatred.

In his interview with NBC Chicago's Chuck Goudie, University of Illinois Chicago senior Merlin Lu said he knew the implications of a burning cross and had placed a MAGA hat atop the cross, explaining his motivation was to protest Trump administration injustice - not something racist.

 How did you land on a burning cross?  Goudie asked.

 Just it came up to my head one day,  Wu said.  I wanted to find something that I could do by myself, like no organization, no friends… 

 I did know about this historical relevance beforehand, but I didn't know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,  he said.  Cause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to with gender. 

Goudie:  Should you have done it some other way? 

Lu:  Yeah, probably. 

Lu is a 21-year-old Naperville native.

Previous video showed him playing tennis at Neuqua Valley High School, where he graduated in 2022.

Last week, Lu sent a scripted video to NBC, claiming responsibility for the cross burning but saying he had no affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, apologizing to those who were offended. In the video he also criticized Pr

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