ADDITIONAL UPDATE: ARREST MADE – Miguel Angel Gomez Amaya, a 26-year-old male from Burlington, was arrested overnight. Amaya was charged with:
· 1 count of 1st Degree Arson;
· 2 counts of Burning a Commercial Building;
· 7 counts of Breaking and Entering; and
· 6 counts of Burning of Personal Property.
Amaya received a $500,000 bond and has been transported to the Alamance County Detention Center. There is no booking photo available at this time.
UPDATE: Burlington police have released the following two images of a person believed to have been involved in setting a series of fires in the early morning hours of Saturday at five locations across East Burlington. Damage done is now estimated to have been over $200,000.
Burlington police are investigating a series of fires that appear to have been set between 2:00 to 6:00 a.m. early Saturday morning.
The first call came in around 2:40 a.m. when police responded to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car lot at 2178 North Church Street (the corner of North Church Street and Sellars Mill Road) after reports of smoke were seen coming from the building.
The Burlington Fire Department units arrived in just over 4 minutes from the time of dispatch to find smoke coming from the business with several small fires located inside.
Fire personnel confirmed there were no occupants in the building and quickly extinguished the fires. The fires were under control in approximately 25 minutes of the arrival of the fire department.
Within a short period of time between 3:00 am and shortly after 6:00 am, multiple fires were reported at additional locations, according to the police:
- North Church and Bland Boulevard (multiple vehicle fires);
- North Church Street and Nike Street (vehicle fire);
- 300 block of Watson Street (vehicle fire); and
- 2000 block of North Church Street (behind DaVita North Burlington Dialysis).
Multiple agencies responded to these locations, including the Burlington Fire Department and the Office of the State Fire Marshall. Other agencies included Alamance County EMS, the Alamance Sheriff’s Office, and the Faucette township fire department.
The Burlington Police Department is in the early stages of its investigation. Police are seeking any additional information from the community, including any surveillance video around the areas of the fires. More information will be available as the investigation continues, according to the department.
The Burlington Police Department is seeking anyone with additional information about this investigation. Please contact the Burlington Police Department at (336) 229-3500. For anonymous methods, call Alamance County-Wide Crimestoppers at (336) 229-7100 or use the mobile app, P3 Tips. Tips provided through Crimestoppers may be eligible for cash rewards.
