MIAMI SHORES, Fla. – A 28-year-old man was arrested Tuesday, exactly a month after he set his roommate’s home in Miami Shores on fire after the victim asked him to start paying rent, authorities said.
According to the suspect’s arrest report, Wualter Fidel Gonzalez and the victim have been friends for about a year.
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Two weeks prior to the Jan. 6 incident, the victim allowed Gonzalez to live with him for a few days because he could no longer live at his previous home, but Gonzalez ended up staying for weeks, authorities said.
Police said the victim told Gonzalez on Jan. 5 that he would have to move out or start paying rent.
According to the report, Gonzalez got upset and left the home in the 500 block of Northeast 94th St.
Police said the victim returned home later in the day and discovered that Gonzalez was back inside his house after having broken in through a side door.
According to the report, the men got into an argument and Gonzalez pulled out a box cutter, threatening to kill the victim with it while chasing him around the front yard of the home.
Police said surveillance video shows Gonzalez arriving back to the victim’s home the next morning in his work vehicle and knocking on the door, saying “Yo Chris, it’s Walt. Let me get the rest of my s*** bro,” before entering the house through the side yard.
According to the report, the video then shows Gonzalez leaving through the front door and running back to his car while telling someone on the phone, “I just broke into that n***** house again.”
Police said the victim returned home a short time later and found smoke coming from his bedroom.
According to the report, a pile of clothes had been set on fire in the victim’s bedroom and there was another fire on the floor next to the wall near the foot of the bed.
Firefighters determined there was no natural source of the fire and that both had been intentionally set.
Gonzalez was taken into custody Tuesday on charges of arson and burglary.
As of Wednesday afternoon, he remained at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center without bond.