MIAMI – Surveillance video shows a 46-year-old man throwing fuel on a house and the flames intensifying before more than a dozen Miami-Dade firefighters arrived, police said.
A witness identified the man as Richard Garcia and said he was so angry about not finding his backpack that he decided to set an efficiency on fire on Saturday afternoon, according to the arrest form.
No one was injured at the house near the intersection of Northwest 102nd Street and Northwest 35th Avenue in the West Little River neighborhood, police said.
Corrections officers booked Garcia shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on charges of first-degree arson and burglary of an unoccupied structure.
Garcia was being held without bond on Monday over a warrant related to a third-degree grand theft auto charge case that prosecutors filed on July 2.
Records show Garcia’s criminal history also includes a charge of aggravated battery on a pregnant woman in 2019 and cocaine and marijuana-related charges.
Assignment Desk Editors Guadalupe Monarrez and Allison Cubillos contributed to this report.