Two people tried to set an immigration services business on fire in California and ended up setting themselves on fire in the process, video shows.
Just after midnight on Monday, Jan. 2, authorities received multiple reports of a fire at a commercial building in Bakersfield, the Kern County Emergency Communications Center said in a news release.
When firefighters got there, they found a fire in the garage toward the back of the building, the release said. Within 10 minutes, they “were able to declare a knockdown of the fire” and checked twice for victims inside.
“The quick knockdown of the fire limited fire damage to the garage,” officials said in the release. When they learned the business is a tax preparation company, firefighters helped the property owner move important documents to a secure area in the building.
Servicio de Inmigracion posted surveillance footage of the arson on the business’ Facebook page.
The clip shows two masked people throwing liquid that appears to be gasoline or some other kind of lighter fluid around the edge of the building and then up toward the camera. When one of them ignites the liquid, flames burst out into the parking lot and engulf both of them.
They’re still on fire as they run off, the video shows.
The business owner, Max Solorzano, told Eyewitness News he’s “devastated and doesn’t know how to move on from something like this.”
Part of what he does at his business Servicio de Inmigracion is file taxes for his clients, he told the station. He asked clients in need of tax or immigration services to go to his business’ other location on Planz Road.
The Kern County Fire Department asks anyone with information to call fire investigators at 1-877-FIRE-TIP.
©2023 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
