ATF investigates Missouri tourist accused of setting businesses on fire in Puerto Rico
Authorities in Missouri and Puerto Rico are investigating an incident where several businesses on the island were allegedly set on fire by a tourist from Missouri; videos of the alleged event have gone viral.
Federal authorities executed a search warrant Tuesday in St. Louis in connection with an investigation in Puerto Rico of a tourist accused of setting businesses on fire last week.
A hotel building's owner described the events as a "nightmare —then step by step you’re hit with the reality amid the screams."
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in St. Louis is helping authorities in the U.S. territory conduct an arson investigation, but no arrests have been made, spokesperson Lisa Storey told NBC News.
The ATF unit investigating the case is in the Robert A. Young Federal Building in St. Louis.Google MapsAuthorities in Puerto Rico said they are close to charging a suspect in the incident, in which security cameras caught a tourist suspected of setting the fire, Puerto Rico’s largest newspaper, El Nuevo Día, reported Tuesday. Charges could come as soon as this week or next week, Lt. Miguel Rivera Sepúlveda of the Mayagüez Police Department’s explosives division told the newspaper.
Videos and pictures of the incident have gone viral on social media, and it has sparked outrage among Puerto Ricans on the island and in the mainland United States.
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