A 26-year-old man is facing charges after police said he set a mattress on fire before leaving a hotel room in Downtown Seattle.
Police responded to a hotel in the 70 block of Yesler Way around 8 p.m. Tuesday (February 7). Officers spoke with an employee who checked the suspect in, telling authorities they have no idea why he would start a fire in the hotel room. All officials knew at the time was that he left the location as soon as the fire started.
The Seattle Fire Department responded and extinguished the blaze, which caused damage totaling $10,000 to the property. Nobody was hurt.
After officers got a description of the suspect, they recognized him from previous incidents with a 28-year-old woman. According to police, the 26-year-old previously threatened to burn her apartment down. They then reached out to the victim, who called earlier about the suspect being outside her apartment building.
Officers pulled up to the apartment building to find the suspect outside the residence. They arrested him, and he was booked into King County Jail for arson and felony harassment.
No word on his motives for setting the mattress on fire or why he targeted the woman.