A shocking video, allegedly filmed by the arsonist himself, captures the moment he set the substantial Kimberly-Clark warehouse in San Bernardino County ablaze.
Authorities have taken Chamel Abdulkarim, a 29-year-old resident of Highland, into custody. He faces two serious felony arson charges for setting fire to a warehouse owned by the consumer goods giant Kimberly-Clark, located in Ontario.
The Instagram account associated with Abdulkarim features a video where he appears to ignite a pile of paper products inside the facility.
In the footage, packages of toilet paper are seen catching fire before they erupt into flames.
Law enforcement officials have acknowledged the video and are conducting a detailed investigation into its contents.
According to insiders familiar with the case, investigators suspect that the video is authentic.
Abdulkarim was captured near the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Limonite Avenue in Eastvale near Ontario.
He is being held without bail at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.
He is accused of intentionally setting the massive fire that engulfed the nearly-1.2 million square foot building near South Hellman Avenue and Merrill Avenue at around 12:30 a.m.
Investigators said Abdulkarim is an angry employee of the warehouse who vented against his job in posts he made online.
About 20 employees were inside the warehouse when the fire broke out, including Abdulkarim, according to sources with knowledge of the probe.
Abdulkarim was initially missing, but was later found.
Cops are still assembling the details of his motive.
“This fire was very quickly identified as suspicious in nature,” said Ontario Fire Department Deputy Chief Mike Wedell. “There was a subject of interest identified very early on in the incident. That subject has been arrested.”
The six-alarm fire was so massive that neighboring fire agencies including San Bernardino County Fire Department had to help out. More than 140 firefighters battled the fire, which raged through the day.
The warehouse that burned is worth a whopping $156 million, according to Zillow.
The building caught fire with astonishing intensity thanks to the paper products inside that helped fuel the flames. Kimberly-Clark is a hygiene company that owns brands like Huggies and Kleene
