A shocking video has emerged capturing the moment a suspected arsonist set fire to a True Religion jeans store within a Southern California shopping mall, marking a troubling series of blazes at this bustling retail hub.
Shoppers watched in alarm as flames engulfed the clothing retailer in Ontario Mills, a sprawling outlet mall located not far from where a massive Kimberly-Clark warehouse was reportedly set ablaze in another suspected arson incident earlier in the week.
The footage reveals the fire rapidly reaching the ceiling of the True Religion store, prompting panicked customers to flee through the front entrance into the mall’s main corridors.
As smoke billowed from the store, emergency responders, including police and firefighters, quickly arrived on the scene to tackle the situation.
The video captures officers as they apprehend a suspect, described as a man with a mustache and dark hair, forcefully restraining and handcuffing him on the floor while stunned bystanders looked on.
Ontario Fire Department Battalion Chief Scot Roeber reported that emergency services were dispatched to the mall shortly before 11 a.m., where they discovered multiple fires burning within several stores.
“First arriving companies found several fires in different stores in one immediate area inside the mall,” said Rober.
“All of those fires were suspicious, and they have all been extinguished,” he added.
Ontario Fire officials would not specify how many stores were set on fire.
Fire officials said a man suspected of setting at least one of the fires was taken into custody by police.
Police and fire officials would not identify the suspect. They would not give any hint of the man’s motives.
There were no reports of injuries and all the fires in the mall have been extinguished, officials said.
The mall will remain closed until further notice and an investigation remains ongoing, police said.
With 28 million annual visitors, Ontario Mills is known as one of the is one of the top shopping and tourist destinations in California.
The dramatic alleged arson at Ontario Mills struck a community already rattled by the massive Kimberly-Clarke warehouse arson that occurred less than 10 miles away on Tuesday.
Rober said there is no evidence the two fires are linked but an investigation is ongoing.
Federal prosecutors Friday revealed that the angry warehouse worker accused of deliberately torching the 1.2-million-square-foot Kimberly-Clark warehouse near Ontario Mills compared himself to alleged corporate healthcare assassin Luigi Mangione.
Prosecutors say that Chamel Abdulkarim made a series of angry posts about his employer and also chanted about being underpaid in a video posted online that he allegedly made of himself starting the blaze.
In the clip allegedly taken by Abdulkarim, he can be heard saying, “all you had to do was pay us enough to live,” as he sets pallets loaded with paper goods alight.
Abdulkarim is being held by police and is scheduled for arraignment next week on seven felony arson charges.
Abdulkarim, 29, of Highland faces life in prison if convicted.
Nobody was hurt in the warehouse blaze that is estimated to have caused $500 million in damage.
