A Florida restaurant call that began as a reported assault or battery turned into an arson arrest after deputies allegedly found a man inside the smoke-filled business holding knives while a propane tank burned outside.
Hillsborough County deputies arrived at the Tampa restaurant around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday and found flames, smoke and suspect Rubiel Maceo Castillo, 53, still inside, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
“When deputies arrived, they found the business filled with smoke and flames, while a propane tank outside the building was also on fire,” the sheriff’s office shared.
Deputies said Castillo was holding two knives when they spotted him inside the restaurant and repeatedly ordered him to drop the weapons and come out.
The sheriff’s office credited deputies and Hillsborough County Fire Rescue with putting down the fire and taking Castillo into custody.
“Working alongside HCFR [Hillsborough County Fire Rescue], deputies extinguished the fire and arrested Castillo. He faces multiple charges, including Arson First-Degree Occupied Structure,” the office’s post concluded.
Court documents obtained by WFLA-TV described a chaotic scene before the fire. Castillo allegedly grabbed two knives, charged at several people inside the restaurant and cut a woman on the wrist when she tried to intervene.
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Investigators alleged Castillo then cut a gas line connected to a grill, grabbed a propane tank and ignited the fire.
Surveillance video released by the sheriff’s office appears to show a man carrying a flaming propane tank through the restaurant as fire spreads through the business. Body-camera footage also showed deputies confronting the suspect before arresting him and helping extinguish the blaze.
Castillo has been charged with first-degree arson of an occupied structure, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal mischief causing more than $1,000 in damage and other offenses, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities have not publicly identified a motive, but WFLA reported that investigators believe the fire grew out of a domestic dispute involving Castillo and his wife.
The next fire case began with a stabbing story that investigators say fell apart on the way to the hospital.
According to FOX 59, the May 6 call split into two tracks. Firefighters worked the detached-garage blaze while police followed a reported stabbing. The garage owners said a neighbor alerted them to the fire before they realized Christopher Peden was missing.
Peden, 36, initially told Fort Wayne police on the way to the hospital that he had been stabbed in downtown Fort Wayne and threatened the day before.
Court documents later described a very different account. Peden allegedly admitted he had been “dishonest” and “wanted to be truthful.”
FOX 59 reported that Peden’s account then turned graphic, with investigators being told he went into the garage and “harmed himself” by “cutting off his penis” with a kitchen knife.
He allegedly poured gasoline on the detached body part and “set it on fire on the floor of the garage just inside the door” before walking away.
Investigators retrieved a red plastic gas container, four lighters and a kitchen knife, according to the court documents. Peden was charged with arson.
Near Oklahoma City police headquarters, the fire was allegedly aimed at a man in a wheelchair.
The July 2 attack was captured outside police headquarters, where footage showed the wheelchair user crossing the street shortly before 38-year-old Alexander Emery allegedly turned back toward him.
Emery appeared to light something before allegedly throwing the incendiary device at the man, authorities said.
The victim was briefly surrounded by flames after the object was thrown. Police said Emery then pushed the wheelchair back toward the fire.
“Emery ran at the victim and pushed him and his wheelchair back into the flames. The victim fell backwards out of his chair and was once again engulfed in the flames,” police said.
A vehicle stopped nearby, and two people got out. An Oklahoma City police detective and a bystander pulled the victim from the fire while another officer detained Emery.
Local media reported that the victim was treated at a hospital for minor injuries and is expected to recover.
Emery faces multiple felony charges, including assault with intent to kill and assault and battery with a deadly weapon, according to the Oklahoma City Police Department.
The final fire destroyed something more personal, a nursery near Sacramento that expecting parents had prepared for their unborn baby.
Three teenage girls were arrested after surveillance footage allegedly caught them laughing as they hurled a lit firecracker through the nursery window of a California home.
The June 30 fire broke out in Citrus Heights, where firefighters raced to an apartment and found a mattress burning inside a bedroom.
Firefighters got the flames under control, but the bedroom Anthony Cadena and Lellises Morgans had turned into a nursery for their unborn son, Noah, was ruined by smoke and fire damage.
Surveillance footage captured two girls lingering outside the apartment before appearing to notice a security camera and point toward it. After spotting an open window, they looked inside, lit a firecracker, tossed it through the window and ran away.
Cadena told the station he had been home playing a video game when his wife called to say the apartment was on fire.
He rushed into the nursery and found the room burning. With help from a passerby, Cadena used a garden hose to slow the flames until firefighters arrived.
No one was injured, but smoke destroyed everything the couple had set up for their baby.
