Police, public credited in arson arrest

WASILLA — It may have been the cops who finally made the collar, but the public definitely had a hand in chasing down two teens police believe nearly set fire to Chimo Guns Tuesday.

“We were dispatched to a fire that was behind Chimos and the building was actually on fire,” said Wasilla police officer Scott Fitchett. “There were two juveniles that were seen running from the debris that was burning.”

Fitchett said the fire had been set in a pile of boxes, packing peanuts and other trash behind the building. Flames had moved up the wall, scorching an area about six feet by two feet in size.

Fitchett and three other officers, plus one Alaska State Trooper, then set about finding the two kids. A witness provided a detailed description — one teen wore a red hooded sweatshirt, the other a black jacket and light hair.

One of the first things officers did, Fitchett said, was put that description across as many channels as possible. They broadcast it on all the police bands and then called a local radio station, which read the description over the air.

At the nearby skateboard park, he said, one officer talked to a driver for Alaska Cab who agreed to broadcast the descriptions on the cabbies’ channel.

Officers started scouring the area. A tip came in from a radio listener that the kids were in a gravel pit nearby Wasilla Middle School, so officers went up there. Fitchett said they spotted them once but the kids were too far off for officers to capitalize.

At some point, officers checked security tapes at Carr’s and were able to pinpoint video footage of the two shopping before the boxes were set on fire. Pictures of the kids’ faces in hand, officers figured they’d probably be able to hand those photos over to their School Resource Officer and have the suspects in hand.

But then Chimo Guns called.

“The kids actually came back to Chimo and went into the store and were checking things out,” Fitchett said.

When store employees started getting suspicious, Fitchett said, the kids high-tailed out of there.

“Fifteen minutes later they came back by the front of the store,” Fitchett said.

Chimo employees were able to tell officers the kids had walked toward the nearby Holiday station. And that’s where officers eventually found them, sitting at a picnic table.

The two teens, aged 14 and 15 were released to their parents and charges forwarded to Juvenile Justice.

All-told, Fitchett said, it was a little more than 4 hours of police work. He said he’s sorry the fire had to be set in the first place - a guess on how much damage it did, he said, would be about $2,000 since firefighters had to tear out part of the wall to make sure fire hadn't gotten inside. But, he said, he is happy about, “just the way everything worked out,”

After everything was through, he said, he asked the radio station to broadcast a thank-you to the public. Their initial broadcasts of suspect descriptions, he said, brought in at least four tips.

“It’s a great tool. A great resource,” Fitchett said.

And, he said, there was some good police work as well. Tuesday afternoon a noticeably proud police chief Angella Long agreed.

“That’s my boys,” she said.