Los Angeles (January 2, 2012). COurtesy KABC-TV.
LOS ANGELES (WZZM) - A West Michigan man says he was caught in the middle of a string of arsons overnight in the Los Angeles area, and a tip from his girlfriend helped lead police to the arrest of a "person of interest."
Skyler Stone is a comedian and actor, originally from Portage, now living in Los Angeles. Monday morning on Twitter, he tweeted that he and his girlfriend were at a the Rite Aid Sunset & Fairfax with about 80 firefighters and police. Stone says his girlfriend saw a man acting suspiciously, minutes before a fire broke out near his home. Police arrested a man two blocks away, and he was led off in handcuffs.
WZZM 13 is working on the West Michigan connection to the arsons in the Los Angeles area. We will have more information as details become available.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Officials say 12 suspected arson fires broke out overnight at carports and garages in the Los Angeles area, and a "person of interest" has been taken into custody.
Department spokesman Capt. Jaime Moore says 10 of the blazes occurred in Los Angeles and two were in West Hollywood. He says they broke out shortly after 1:30 this morning.
Arson investigators are on the scene. No injuries have been reported.
On Sunday, police released grainy surveillance video showing a man at a parking garage that was the scene of one of dozens of suspicious car fires. Moore says it's not known if that man is the "person of interest" authorities detained early today.
He says it's too early to say whether the person has any "direct correlation" to the rash of fires.