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Police say Waianae arson cases possibly related

Courtesy John McQuown

Sixty-four-year-old John McQuown of Waianae was sleeping in his home in Waianae Sunday afternoon when he was roused by a loud noise.

“I heard a loud bang,” he said. “I assumed it was a car accident.”

He went outside when a man at the Hele gas station across his house on Farrington Highway yelled to McQuown that smoke was emanating from the side of his home.

He ran into his home and saw smoke and then flames ignite in his son’s bedroom. “I told the guy, ‘I need help, I need help!’” McQuown said.

The man whose first name is William ran across the street and helped McQuown extinguish the blaze with a garden hose.

The case is among a string of arson cases that occurred in Waianae Sunday within a span of four hours. Police say the cases are possibly related.

A home surveillance video shows the suspect throw what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail at the window at about 1:30 p.m.

Still shaken, McQuown said, “I’m hoping (police) can catch this guy. I really do.”

The second arson case occurred at a residence on McArthur Street just after 2:45 p.m. Police said a 56-year-old man reported a male suspect threw a Molotov cocktail at his home. The blaze was quickly extinguished.

About two hours later at a home at the 86-900 block of Moelima Street, police said a 34-year-old man entered a 55-year-old woman’s residence and set fire to a sink cabinet. The blaze was extinguished before firefighters arrived.

Police said the suspect in each of the arson cases fled before police arrived.

Police have classified each case as first-degree arson. No injuries were reported.

Police arrested a 34-year-old suspect today on suspicion of arson in connection with the fire at McArthur Street and the fire at Moelima Street.

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