Someone sprayed a rack of Halloween costumes with lighter fluid and set them on fire inside an East Bay Walmart store on Tuesday afternoon, forcing the store to close and customers to evacuate while authorities investigated.
Advertisement
A 40-year-old San Leandro, CA man has been arrested after setting Halloween costumes in a local Walmart on fire Tuesday afternoon.
“I betcha he won’t be wanting to do that again”, said one bystander outside the store. Frightened witnesses called 911.
Around 10 a.m., Walmart loss prevention officers spotted a suspicious man inside the store pushing a shopping cart with a leaking 2 quart bottle of lighter fluid.
Security workers did apprehend the suspect and held him until police got on the scene. A Walmart employee is seen in the video moving quickly to remove the candy to get to the fire on the other side. According to McManus, there is still a strong odor from the fire at the store. Alameda County Health Department officials cleared the store of any danger and the store reopened around 5:00 p.m. “This is a case of arsonist, the entire incident is captured on the store video”, a police spokesman said to KPIX.
“It is scary”, said one shopper.
Wal-Mart employees were able to extinguish the fire, McManus said.
Advertisement
The motive for the arson is not yet known.
