JAPANESE COPS ARREST SUSPECT IN BURNING OF BUILDING DURING CONCERT

A man was arrested March 24, 2021 on suspicion of setting fire to a multi-tenant building in this western Japan city where a local pop group was holding a concert, Yoko Kunimoto reported for Mainichi Shimbun.

Tokushima Prefectural Police arrested Shigeru Okada, 38, an unemployed resident in the prefecture on suspicion of arson of an inhabited building. The suspect is accused of trespassing into the Acty Annex building in the city of Tokushima and pouring gasoline in the elevator hall on the third floor, a little past 1 p.m. on March 14.

A portable blue fuel container and a knife were left at the scene of the incident, and gasoline was detected in the container. According to prefectural police, a local idol group had started a live performance at a bar on the building's fourth floor at 1 p.m.

The bar manager, who is in his 50s, suffered burns to his throat while extinguishing the fire, but some 70 individuals, including customers and performers, evacuated safely.

No accidental cause for the fire could be found in the elevator hall, prompting prefectural police to investigate the blaze as arson.

According to a source close to the investigation, the man emerged as a suspect following analysis of video from surveillance cameras and a dashboard camera in a taxi parked nearby.

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