Police in West Philadelphia are searching for the arsonist who torched nearly a dozen cars in a repair lot last week and then accidentally set his own arm alight, reports philly.com.
Surveillance cameras captured blurry footage of the man running from the Superior Automotive lot at 6122 Lancaster Ave. around 4:45 a.m. Nov. 6. As flames begin to engulf the vehicles, the suspect can be seen sprinting away with his left arm ablaze.
Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives said the man used gasoline to set 11 cars on fire. The lot is used to store a variety of vehicles: cars for sale, cars waiting for repairs, and cars that have been towed.
“It’s a terrible thing to learn that your car that went in for minor repairs is now destroyed,” Walker said of the owners of the torched cars. The arson, he added, caused about $100,000 in damage.
“When people ignite things like this, they cause danger and great risk to the community. It could have really been an extremely disruptive thing for the whole community,” were it not for the Philadelphia Fire Department’s quick work on the scene, Walker said.
There is no evident motive in the case, Walker said, and the owner of the lot had not reported any recent disputes with customers. After the arson, police searched area hospitals for burn victims, but found none.
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