Suspected Serial Arsonist Rondarrious Campbell Arrested After Setting Dumpster Fire In Downtown
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Suspected serial arsonist Rondarrious Campbell was arrested after firefighters extinguished a large dumpster fire on April 24.
It happened in downtown near the CVS. What seemed like just another dumpster fire was in fact the culmination of weeks of hard work by Dallas Fire-Rescue's Investigation Division.
Dating back to April 19, investigators began to believe they were dealing with an arsonist after two small fires were set, at 1800 Main Street and 325 North St. Paul Street, within 15 minutes of each other.
On April 24, after multiple small fires and hours of examining evidence, it was confirmed that they did in fact have a serial arsonist on their hands. Rondarrious Campbell was identified through surveillance video, investigators said.
Having determined that the 31-year-old was focusing on areas in Northwest Dallas near Harry Hines Blvd., the Medical District and the Downtown Dallas, investigators called on the assistance of the Dallas Police Department's Central Critical Response Team (CRT) to help apprehend Campbell. A fire pattern assessment, video evidence and the description of the suspect was provided to CRT, and a plan was developed for both to monitor radio traffic for fire-related incidents near the DART rail line in the aforementioned areas.
Their efforts immediately paid off when the same person, now confirmed to be Campbell, was detained near the scene of the Elm Street dumpster fire, by the CRT, and later arrested. After conducting an in-custody interview, investigators were able to charge Campbell with a Felony 2 Arson for a fire he set on April 23, at 2920 Inwood Road.
However, more charges are expected, as Campbell is suspected in setting as many as 21 fires between April 8th – 24th. While a lot of the fires involved trash, dumpsters, vegetation and other combustibles, eight of them involved structures.
No injuries reported among any of the fires.
