Officers have arrested a man wanted in connection with a second fire in the alley behind St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (313 Second St. NE) and another nearby behind Hillsdale College (227 Massachussetts Ave. NE) early the morning of Wednesday, June 11. The fire is believed to be arson.
DC Fire Emergency Medical Services (DC FEMS) identified the suspect as Al-Rashidi Mohammad, who they say is an unhoused individual about 50 years of age wanted in connection with more than 30 suspcious fires.
Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) Chair Karen Wirt told neighbors that construction material for the Hillsdale College project was lit on fire between 2 and 4 a.m. in a trash receptacle in the alley behind the church.
The next day, June 12 at about 6 a.m., DC Fire EMS responded to another fire in a recycling bin behind the church.
A representative for DC FEMS, which investigated the incidents, said that the suspect was captured on church surveillance footage and a lookout was issued. Capitol Police detained the suspect the same day in response to the lookout. DC Fire EMS Fire Investigation Unit made the arres.
Officials say the suspect is the same man who was arrested in May after firefighters saw him light a trash can on fire closer to Barney Circle. That man was arrested and photographed in May, but released for lack of evidence.
It was the third suspicious fire on the alley near the church in the last 40 days. In May, a vehicle belonging to Reverend William H. Gurnee, the pastor at St. Joseph’s, was destroyed while parked in a garage behind the church.
A series of fires have happened all over the Hill writ large since December. In that month, a Porsche was set on fire a few blocks from Eastern Market. Around Lincoln Park, several garbage cans have been lit on fire, a construction trailer was burned and last week, a Pride flag torn down and set ablaze.
Authorities have not connected the suspect to all of these incidents, although he has been linked to the garage fire that destroyed Rev. Gurnee’s vehicle. Officials say he is thought to be a serial arsonist who has set many small, primarily outdoor, fires throughout the Hill over the past few months.
An earlier version of this story said that US Capitol Police (US) arrested the suspect. Officers with US detained the individual but the arrest was made by officers with the DC FEMS Investigation Unit on June 12.
