KALAMAZOO (WKZO) — A suspected arsonist has been arrested for the fire that destroyed the Hollywood Nights Lingerie shop on S. Westnedge Wednesday afternoon.
Cheif Jeff Hadley says the man confessed under questioning, claiming he wanted to ‘eradicate pornography’ in that neighborhood.
The 41 year old white male suspect was spotted by a witness fleeing from the building with an axe just before it was consumed by flames.
Lt. Mike Kelly says the second time he was seen was by someone in Comstock who told County Deputies that a suspicious person was trying to dispose of an axe in a dumpster.
Deputies responded and tried to pull the man over, but he fled, eventually getting stuck in a snow bank at Riverview and Sugarwood. He was arrested.
Only later was he linked to the fire.
It’s not clear if the man had an axe to grind against the owners, chose Ash Wednesday to take a stand against adult entertainment, or had some other motive.
He was questioned well into the evening by detectives.
The suspect is expected to be formally charged with arson and perhaps other charges connected to the flight from deputies sometime Friday.
The fire forced thousands of commuters who normally use Westnedge to get home, to find detours.
The shop, located between a Taco Bell and an elementary school and across the street from a McDonalds seemed out of place and probably won’t be missed by most of the people who live and work in the area.
The owners of the shop say they were uninsured and want to reopen and have opened a ‘go-fund-me’ site on the internet to raise money.
