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Vehicle Arson in North Seattle, Suspect in Custody

A man who deliberately set a pickup truck on fire in North Seattle late last night is in custody.

On April 19th at approximately 10:52 p.m. officers responded to reports of an arson to a vehicle in the 11300 block of Corliss Avenue North. Preliminary investigation indicates that three adult males and an adult female were gathered around the victim’s vehicle, a 2002 Chevrolet pickup truck. The adult male suspect and adult male victim got into an argument over the female. The suspect brandished a firearm and then squeezed a container full of an unknown accelerant into the pickup truck and lit it on fire. The suspect and female then fled the scene on foot.

The victim, a 28-year-old male, retrieved a fire extinguisher from a nearby resident and tried unsuccessfully to put out the fire. The victim then fled the scene on foot and remains at large.

Fire department personnel responded to the scene and put out the vehicle fire. Besides destroying the truck, the fire also damaged some electrical wires hanging above the truck (it is unknown if anyone lost power over the damaged electrical wires).

Based on information developed during the course of their investigation, officers were able to locate and stop a suspect vehicle, a Chrysler Concorde sedan, at North 115th Street and Aurora Avenue North. Both the primary suspect, a male in his 20’s, and the female from the original group of four were in the vehicle. The only subject out of the original group of four to remain at the scene of the vehicle arson was an adult male who was subsequently interviewed by responding officers. He was transported to the traffic stop location and positively identified the male suspect and female subject.

The suspect was placed under arrest and both he and the female subject were transported to the North Precinct to be interviewed.

Two other subjects in the Chrysler sedan, a male and female, were interviewed and released from the scene. The Chrysler was impounded and taken to the evidence garage.

Seattle Police Arson/Bomb Squad detectives responded to the scene and are handling the active and on-going investigation.