Santa Monica police arrested a 20-year-old local resident on Friday, Aug. 29 after being caught soon after lighting a fire at an elementary school.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department accompanied Santa Monica Fire Department Personnel at 6:30 pm on this day to the 2400 block of Kansas Avenue after they had received a report of a man setting the Edison Elementary School, located at that address, on fire.
Upon arrival the Fire Department personnel extinguished a small fire that was burning on the fence at the location.
The officers spoke with witnesses at the scene and based upon their statements the officers located a suspect nearby.
The officers questioned the suspect and he admitted to lighting the plastic covering of the fence on fire.
After searching this man the officers discovered that he was in possession of a lighter and matches.
The officers arrested this 20-year-old resident of Santa Monica and he was charged with arson. Bail was set at $50,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of The Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
