Seattle police arrested a 32-year-old man for arson early Tuesday after firefighters found him standing over a fire in the stairwell of a Capitol Hill apartment building.
Around 3 AM, firefighters responded to a building in the 800 block of East Pine Street after smoke tripped an automatic fire alarm. After arriving at the apartment complex, firefighters entered a stairwell and found a 32-year-old man standing over a pile of burning debris. The man whispered that there was someone else in the stairwell with a gun, and firefighters noticed the man was holding a knife in his hand, so they backed out of the building and called for police.
SPD officers arrived and approached the stairwell and arrested the 32-year-old man. A team of officers checked the stairwell for signs of a man with a gun, but only found scorched walls, smoldering debris, and a burnt cellphone.
Police recovered two knives and a lighter from the man and booked him into the King County Jail for investigation of arson.