Police arrested a Hollywood man believed to be a German citizen on Monday in connection with a wave of 53 arson fires across Los Angeles that terrorized neighborhoods over the holiday weekend.
Harry Burkhart, 24, was taken into custody early on Monday morning after a reserve sheriff’s deputy spotted him driving a van similar to one being sought after a string of fires set in Los Angeles, Hollywood and surrounding communities.
Authorities booked Burkhart, a Hollywood resident who they believe to be a German national, on suspicion of arson and said he was being held at Los Angeles County jail.
“Our long, four-day nightmare is over,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said at a Monday evening press conference.
“This has been literally a nightmare for people who live on the west side of LA, the San Fernando Valley and West Hollywood,” Yaroslavsky said. “I live in that community and I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since last week. I’m looking forward to that tonight.”
Burkhart was expected to be advised of the charges against him at a hearing today.
Authorities declined to comment on a Los Angeles Times report that Burkhart was embroiled in an immigration dispute with the federal government over the status of his mother.
However, Los Angeles police chief Charlie Beck said that federal law enforcement agents “who have been privy to removal hearings” had recognized the suspect from surveillance videotape taken near several of the fires.
Burkhart’s van had Canadian license plates, Beck said.
The chief said detectives believed that Burkhart acted alone, but said residents should remain vigilant and report suspicious activity.
The first of the more than 50 arson blazes broke out on Friday. The rash of fires, most of them set in cars and parking structures, some spreading to carports and homes, continued into the early morning hours of Monday morning.
The spate of arsons left residents on edge during the holiday weekend, as fires broke out seemingly at random across neighborhoods and sirens screamed through the night.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said the person who had set the fires was “perhaps the most dangerous arsonist in the County of LA that I can recall.”
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the fires had caused an estimated US$3 million in damage.
“These were serious, potentially deadly crimes that needlessly endangered thousands of innocent lives,” he said.
There were no fatalities caused by the fires, but one firefighter was injured and another person suffered from smoke inhalation during a blaze that broke out on New Year’s Eve.
Baca said that the deputy credited with detaining Burkhart was a part-time reserve officer who makes only US$1 a year because he is essentially a volunteer.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese