Man Charged With Allegedly Setting Blaine House On Fire
BLAINE, Minn. (WCCO) -- A man has been arrested and charged after allegedly setting a Blaine home on fire.
Police in the northern Twin Cities suburb say that officers responded around 2 p.m. Wednesday to a home on the 10700 block of Lincoln Street on a report of a house fire. Several witnesses told officers that they saw someone walking around the house before the flames erupted.
Investigators say that one witness described seeing the suspect throw something through a rear basement window and hearing glass break. Another said they say a jug of some sort on the window sill just before flames sparked up inside the house.
One of the witnesses tried to chase the suspect as they called 911. When officers arrived, they set up a perimeter and quickly took the suspect into custody. He was booked into the Anoka County Jail on suspicion of first-degree arson.
Twenty-three-year-old Michael Bourgeois, of Blaine, now faces two felony counts of first-degree arson.
No one was in the home at the time of the fire, and police say that no injuries were reported. It's unclear how much damage the home sustained.
