ONTARIO, Calif. (KABC) — A warehouse employee arrested on suspicion of starting a massive fire that destroyed the building in Ontario, has been charged with several counts of felony arson.
Chamel Abdul-Karim, 29, faces one count of Aggravated Arson and six counts of Arson-Structure/Forest Land, which involves the willful and malicious burning of buildings or land, according to court records. He was set to be arraigned Thursday at a Rancho Cucamonga courthouse.
Police arrested Abdul-Karim on suspicion of felony arson soon after the fire broke out. Authorities say he was working at the Kimberly-Clark Distribution Center through a third-party company at the time.
Investigators say they are reviewing a video posted to social media, which appears to show cases of toilet paper being set on fire inside a warehouse, but have not confirmed whether the person shown in the footage is Abdul-Karim.
A co-worker of the suspect told reporters he had just met Abdul-Karim moments before the fire broke out and said there was initially no suspicion that he was involved.
“There was no suspicion that it was him, actually he was missing. So everyone was trying to find him. Everyone was blaming the robots at first. We were almost 100% sure it was the robots until the action in the video of course,” said Alex Montero of San Bernardino.
The fire, which erupted shortly after 12:30 a.m. Tuesday near Hellman and Merrill avenues, destroyed the more than one-million-square-foot facility. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze to the building, and no injuries were reported. The warehouse was filled with paper products from familiar brands like Kleenex to Huggies diapers.
Fire officials said arson was suspected almost immediately because of how quickly the fire spread inside the facility. Ontario Fire Department Chief Mike Gerken described the behavior of the fire as unusual.
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