The San Jose arsonist responsible for setting at least 12 fires in a span of five days, terrorizing a working class immigrant neighborhood was arrested Thursday, officials said.
According to San Jose officials, William Patrick Brennan was convicted with two charges of arson, with more counts expected. The 48-year-old is being detained on US$1 million bail in Santa Clara County Jail.
News of the arsonist's arrest triggered a huge sigh of relief for both officials and the residents of the San Jose suburb.
"We've been keeping porch lights on, passing around the composite drawing, looking over our shoulders. So yeah, today I'm breathing a little easier," shared San Jose resident Linda Dean, who works with mentally ill patients and runs sober-living homes in the neighborhood.
Officials confirmed that Brennan set fires to a warehouse, a few churches and several homes from Jan. 8 to 12. The arsonist also reportedly lit fire to a drywall business establishment twice in two succeeding days.
One of Brennan's work was a five-alarm fire on Jan. 9 that consumed a 120,000 square foot warehouse and resulted to traffic delays, closing of two local schools and evacuation of several homes.
According company executive Sal Madrigal, someone pushed a burning object through the establishment's mail slot, setting other materials on fire. A foreman caught whiff of smoke and put out the fire before it could do more damage.
The following day, Madrigal explained that the building's exterior received slight damage after an unidentified man apparently attempted to pull a plywood panell off to the side and and stuff burning newspapers through the slot.
There were no casualties in the string of fires that spanned five days in San Francisco Bay Area's largest city.
"Everywhere I went, I was checking the neighborhood, seeing who was around, seeing if there were strangers," Kelly Lee, who was employed in an apartment complex in the area, said in an interview.
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