LYNNWOOD — A 42-year-old man suspected of setting fire to a mobile home and firing a gun near Lynnwood in December said he wanted to kill the person who lived there, according to new court papers.
Snohomish County prosecutors charged the man, from Kent, with first-degree arson earlier this month.
The defendant claimed the homeowner was spreading information about him and sending threats through YouTube, prosecutors wrote. He wouldn’t elaborate on what that information was, but he said it caused a rift between him and his estranged wife.
The man told a Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy that he borrowed a rifle from a friend and bought ammunition, documents say. He also said he had been drinking alcohol and using methamphetamine before going to the trailer Dec. 11.
The location is in a mobile home park north of Lynnwood, off Highway 99. The owner wasn’t there. The place hadn’t been occupied for months, a witness said.
The defendant allegedly took out a lighter and some car cleaning material and set fire to a couch and camping supplies.
Soon, the mobile home was engulfed in flames.
The man reportedly tried to leave, but his truck wouldn’t start. He got angry, he said. He took out his rifle and fired it several times at the ground, prosecutors allege. A deputy wrote that the bullets could have ricocheted toward bystanders.
The man then reportedly threw the gun under the trailer and ran.
Using witness descriptions, sheriff’s deputies found the suspect a little over two miles away. They also recovered five shell casings and a gun matching the suspect’s description.
The defendant was still in the Snohomish County Jail on Friday. His bail was set at $100,000. He has claimed other dates of birth that would make him 33, as was reported in previous stories.
Trial is scheduled for March.
Zachariah Bryan: 425-339-3431; zbryan@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @zachariahtb.
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