Update: LAPD Detains ‘Person Of Interest’ In Car Fire Outbreak
- Posted on January 2, 2012 at 6:19am by
Mike Opelka
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Update: 6:30am EST - The LAPD has announced that they have detained a “person of interest” and are currently interviewing that individual.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Four more suspected arson fires broke out early Monday in the Los Angeles area even as detectives searched for a man caught on grainy surveillance video near the scene of one of dozens of the suspicious car fires that have hit city since last week.
Police distributed DVDs on Sunday featuring footage of the person of interest, a white male between 20 and 30 years old with a receding hairline and a shoulder-length ponytail. The man is wanted for questioning in connection with the rash of arson blazes, said Officer Sara Faden.
He was seen on video Saturday after emerging on foot from inside an underground parking structure on Hollywood Boulevard where a car fire was reported.
Detectives estimated the man, who was wearing a bulky jacket, is between 5-feet-6 and 6-feet-1.
Faden said investigators are asking for the public’s help in identifying the man on the video.
Early Monday, firefighters battled four suspected arson fires at carports.
Department spokesman Capt. Jaime Moore told The Los Angeles Times that the blazes were in the Hollywood Hills and Laurel Canyon areas.
They broke out shortly after 1:30 a.m. and the reports all came out within minutes of each other, he said.
No injuries have been reported and it was still unknown if the fires were connected to earlier blazes.
Detectives spent early Sunday analyzing security video camera footage and following up on other leads after a half dozen more vehicles were set on fire on New Year’s Eve.
The outbreak of arson fires has left a trail of smoldering debris in Hollywood, West Hollywood, North Hollywood and the Fairfax district of Los Angeles since Thursday.
Authorities said they were investigating a total of 43 suspicious fires. Most of those fires were set in parked cars. In several cases, flames have jumped to carports and apartment units.
A reward of $60,000 has been offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the arsonist.
Detectives served a search warrant at a home in the San Fernando Valley, Det. Gus Villanueva said Sunday. Several interviews were conducted, but no arrests were made.
“They are working on hundreds of clues, interviewing dozens of witnesses, picking up countless pieces of evidence,” police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said of the detectives.
Authorities haven’t said how the car fires were sparked or what was collected at the crime scenes. They were unsure if the rash of fires were the work of one arsonist or multiple people or copycats.
There have been no injuries.
Extra patrols were out in force on New Year’s Eve. One of Saturday’s attacks occurred at the Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex, a popular tourist destination and hotspot for holiday revelers. Firefighters responded to a report of a small car fire in a parking structure that was out by the time they arrived.
Firefighters routinely are called to put out burning cars, but this recent spate has been unusual because of the frequency and location of the fires. Crews have been responding to other emergencies despite the focus on solving the fire arsons, fire spokesman Erik Scott said.
Police urged residents to check their cars for any signs of tampering and take simple precautions such as locking their cars, keeping garage and carport lights on at night and reporting suspicious activity.
“We are not going to rest,” Los Angeles Fire Department assistant chief Pat Butler said Sunday at a joint police-fire news conference. “We are going to work tirelessly.”
Police officials were working with Sheriff’s Department detectives, city and county fire investigators and members of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
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gmoneytx
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 3:02pmWhat’s so interesting about this guy :)
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 11:50am$60 Grand, a walk like that and a pony tail. This guy is going down.. Back down to zuccotti park probably, where the humble ows-ers wil be crawling all over each other to collect on their ‘brother’,, Won’t have anything to do with greed tho, will it?
Report Post »666Sucks
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 11:14amWhen God is removed, evil fills the void. There are three ideologies in this battle, Capitalism, Communism, and Islamism. We capitalists are vastly outnumbered by the evil left as Communism & Islamism have teamed up again. It’s going to get far worse before it gets better, if it ever does. I always want to ask a leftist, how can an American choose to side with evil over Good, but I already know the answer. I fear there is a great culling of the human herd before us. I hope we all wake up before God must step in. It’s beyond what Jesus would do, it’s what his dad will do, remember Sodom & Gamorrah!
Report Post »Miyegombo Bayartsogt
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:14pmYour god wipes out entire cities with fire and brimstone killing all the inhabitants. He turns old women into pillars of salt for ‘lookism’. Your jealous, spiteful, vengeful god floods entire planets wiping out plants and animals and humans willy nilly with no regard for individual sin. Meanwhile, Jesus, gentle and mild, invented the concept of hell and eternal damnation for people who won’t blindly follow him like sheep to be sheered and sold. His dad — lord God on high — condones slavery and genocide and racism and sexism. Looking at the tenants of this religion I fail to see how we’re better off with the muddled myths of benighted Bronze Age desert dwelling barefooted illiterates than we would be with some alternative reality that takes into account microorganisms and a modern view of the cosmos. that’s not mired in leftist twaddle.
Report Post »LukeAppling
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 11:07amThey have concluded the suspect is betweem 5′6″ and 6′1″ well that leaves about 1% of the people as suspecst. I suggest they narrow the group a little more.
Report Post »Dr. Joel Fleischman
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 9:49amI wish that whole ****** town would burn to the ground. As long as it takes Hollyweird with it I will be satisfied.
Report Post »PointBreak
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 9:14amIf he’d been a majority black or majority mexican they never would have mentioned race. Hypocrites in the media picking on the minorities here in LA can’t wait to blame a white guy. Next week we’ll find out it was really a brown person (probably illegal) then they‘ll just refer to him as the ’alleged‘ perpetrator or ’suspect’.
Report Post »EndTheGOPTEA
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 8:34amI will Bet he is a GOP / MeParty kook who has spent to much time listening to Radio Hate about those Liberal Californians.
Report Post »Tell me you guys don‘t like it just a little that those crazy cali’s burn.
jakartaman
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 8:49amYa – Right ponytail conservative.
Report Post »I would think he is one of your lefty loonies – you know an Al Gore freak burning air polluting vehicles!
Or just your average Kalifonia liberal looking for the attention his mama did not give him.
EndTheGOPTEA
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 8:53amThanks, Proof of my statements truth.
Report Post »texasfireguy
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 9:20amLather and End, go back to your drum circles and occupy protests with the other stinky hippies. We don’t want to listen to the crap you spew in here.
Report Post »Dr. Joel Fleischman
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 9:51amNo doofus, that is what happens when you watch too much Ricky Madcow/Tingles Matthews/Schultz/Keef Olbertard
Nice deflection though, *******.
Report Post »Dr. Joel Fleischman
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 9:53amLather and End… please do us a favor and jump off the world’s tallest bridge. The less of you leftist garbage, the better;)
Report Post »Darla_K
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 8:15amI hope they catch him soon or “it”. This is terrible and one sick human being that could do this. We need to rid this kind of trash from our streets.
Report Post »CONNIPTION FITZ
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 8:01amCould be a rogue – an angry laid-off fireman.
Report Post »texasfireguy
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 8:21amWith a “shoulder length pony tail”? I doubt it.
Report Post »Gorp
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:45amIt would be something if the fire starters turned out to be with the occupy movement.
Report Post »neverfinal
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 1:24pmMy first thought was OWS Radicals that infiltrated. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been more than one and they all have the same MO. Remember, Rule for Radicals. To create chaos until the people call out to the Government for help and then they call in Martial Law. Well, that goes to prove why Obama signed into law on New Years eve the NDAA. He knows full well what the plan is. Follow the German History and you will see that is exactly the way that Hitler became the Dictator. He started the fires and Martial Law was called in after the people cried out for help. The end of Germany’s democracy.
Report Post »KingCanon
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:40amThese ads are killers and arsonist in themselves! HOW SO?
Report Post »KILLS the mood going into the news and BURNS more time than I have to actually sit and watch!
quicker
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:33amSomething else to think about ,he might belong to E.L.F.You know the group thet go`s around torching SUV and new apartment or home projects
Report Post »Dr. Joel Fleischman
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 9:55amOr PETA.
Report Post »streetrodder
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:25amThey said he is a white male? Thats politicaly incorrect for Ca.
Report Post »neozenov
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:22amTypical “union” thug it appears
Report Post »neozenov
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:21amHe walked and looked like a typical union thug.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:16amThis just in…
Report Post »They have somebody in custody.
My money is STILL on “Occupy Hollywood.”
qpwillie
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:28amI’m with you on that. The question is, will we ever be told if it is?
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:14amMy money is on “OCCUPY HOLLYWOOD.”
Just sayin’.
Report Post »Censored_by_the_Illuminati
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 7:07amBetween 5′6“ and 6”1″, LOL, so he’s either short or tall. Now that’s some real liberal police work.
Report Post »musics9
Posted on January 2, 2012 at 6:51amPlease catch those involved in this. I‘m guessing it’s some sheeple lashing out at the ‘1%’ (i.e. anyone that actually owns a car or anything else). This is going to get alot worse before those slumbering peacefully finally wake up and ‘get it’.
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