Authorities have charged a Gloucester County man with setting three fires last week, including one at an apartment complex and another that destroyed a vacant building that was previously home to a local theater troupe and school.
A firefighter suffered a minor injury in one of the incidents.
Michael M. Lopez-Medina, 19, of Woodbury, allegedly admitted setting the blazes, according to court documents.
The incidents began Feb. 1, when Lopez-Medina used gasoline and matches to set fire to two vehicles on Salem Avenue in Woodbury, police said. The vehicles were destroyed.
The owner of one of the cars told police she thought Lopez-Medina may have set the fires because she recently told him she was not interested in dating him, police stated in an affidavit of probable cause. The defendant is seen on video setting fire to the vehicles, police stated in complaints filed Sunday.
On Feb. 3, Lopez-Medina allegedly used gasoline and matches to torch a detached utility shed at Carriage House Apartments in Woodbury. Once again, police said Lopez-Medina was seen on video setting the fire. The shed was destroyed.
Firefighters then responded to 433 Glover St. in Woodbury around 3:30 a.m. Feb. 7 for a fire in the vacant, three-story building that once housed the Sketch Club Players theater group. They found heavy fire conditions and portions of the building collapsed as crews battled the blaze. The structure, which dates to 1899 and was originally the West End School, was already in poor condition from years of neglect, officials noted.
The three-alarm blaze was placed under control around 5:30 a.m.
A building that once housed Woodbury’s West End School and later the Sketch Club Players theater group was consumed by fire Feb. 7. Police have charged a man with setting the blaze.(Woodbury Fire Department)
Lopez-Medina was caught on video running from that fire scene and was wearing the same clothing in all three incidents, police stated.
In the second and third incidents, police say he…
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