Prosecutors: Suspect started fire inside California Home Depot while shoplifting

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California man has been charged with arson after prosecutors say he deliberately started a fire that destroyed a store.

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The five-alarm fire at the San Jose Home Depot on April 9 caused the building’s roof to collapse and created massive amounts of smoke that prompted officials to warn residents to shelter in place, as we reported at the time.

In a news release, the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office said that Dyllin Jaycruz Gogue intentionally lit the fire in an aisle while he was trying to steal tools from the store. Gogue is accused of starting the fire, then trying to leave the store with a cart full of tools. Gogue was stopped by a store employee and got away.

In a press conference announcing the charges, Santa Clara County DA Jeff Rosen said that the fire sent “employees and customers running for their lives,” NBC News reported. The fire destroyed the entire 98,827-square-foot space and caused an estimated $17 million in inventory loss.

“I am thankful this was not a multiple murder case,” Rosen said in a statement. “This fire — set during business hours — could so easily have left bodies in the rubble. It was horribly reckless behavior, and we will prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.”

Rosen said before arriving at the Home Depot that the suspect had stolen items earlier that day from a nearby Bass Pro Shop, KGO-TV reported.

It took more than 100 firefighters 12 hours to put out the flames, NBC News reported.

Witnesses told KGO-TV that there were no sprinklers inside the store. “We were watching the ceiling come down in flames before any alarm came on,” Jeff Baham told the station. “It wasn’t until maybe three minutes after we left, this giant plume of smoke came rushing out to the front and then we all knew it is time to leave.”

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