photo credit: Kennedy Pierce
A man was taken into custody on suspicion of setting a fire that damaged three apartments at a complex in Pleasant Hill on Tuesday night, according to police.
Officers and firefighters responded shortly before 9 p.m. to a report of an explosion and smoke in the 1400 block of Contra Costa Boulevard and arrived to find an apartment engulfed in flames, Pleasant Hill police said.
Several people reported seeing a man limping away from the apartment complex while carrying two large kitchen knives.
Officers found the man, who did not obey their commands and began injuring himself with the knives. An officer used bean bag munitions to take the man, Marlon Perry, 58, into custody. Perry was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive, according to police.
Firefighters extinguished the fire and found evidence it was intentionally set by Perry. Three apartments had fire and smoke damage but no one was injured. Police said Perry will eventually be booked into county jail on suspicion of arson.
Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the Pleasant Hill police investigations bureau at (925) 288-4630.
It sounds like his Christmas didn’t turn out quite like he’d hoped.
What makes you think he had hope?
My husband and I used to live there. The first week we moved in someone had set a van on fire behind our unit at 4am.
Lived here too. In the apartment next to the laundry room. It got set on fire multiple times during my stay there. Only left due to a flood. Apartment was full of black mold and asbestos. Hope the smoke doesn’t mess anyones lungs up too bad
If this had happened on a spare the air day, hed really would be in trouble
Why can’t suicidal nutcases just find a quiet spot in a remote location and kill themselves privately without putting alot of people thru alot of trouble?
Just because you’re crazy and want to die does not mean it’s OK to be inconsiderate!
Let’s see arson, potentially fatal, …but here in Coco land Becton has him out probably and just took away his matches and gave him medical care for a year for his self inflicted injury
Hopefully they found him a nice room with tufted walls, soft floor, a snug little jacket so he can hug himself and no door knob on his side for at least 72 hours.