EMMETT TOWNSHIP (WKZO-AM) — An alleged arsonist suspected of lighting fires and committing retail fraud in the Harper Village area near Battle Creek is in custody today, awaiting formal arraignment.
The attack began in the Meijer parking lot late Monday night when Emmett Township Public Safety says they got a report of a man sticking a rag into the gas tank of a vehicle and setting it on fire.
Soon after there was another fire set in the Meijer bathroom. Not long after that, police received a report from the Walmart nearby, of a suspected shoplifter who matched the description stealing a laptop.
They confronted the suspect in the parking lot, who rammed a firetruck twice before leaving the parking lot in his heavily damaged vehicle, with police in pursuit.
He got about a mile before the getaway car went into a ditch and the 30-year-old suspect from Grand Rapids was arrested and booked at the Calhoun County Corrections Center.
They are still trying to determine a motive for his behavior.
