Monday in the Los Angeles area, and a "person of interest" was taken into custody for questioning in connection with the dozens of suspicious car fires that have hit the city since last week.
The developments came a day after police distributed DVDs featuring footage of a man, between 20 and 30 years old with a receding hairline and a shoulder-length ponytail, whom they described as a person of interest. He was seen on grainy surveillance video Saturday after emerging on foot from inside an underground parking structure on Hollywood Boulevard where a car fire was reported.
Fire department spokesman Capt. Jaime Moore said he couldn't say whether the person of interest detained early Monday was the man seen on the video footage. "It's still too early to say whether or not this person has any direct correlation with the number of fires that we've been responding to this evening," Moore said.
No arrests had been made.
Early Monday, firefighters battled 12 suspected arson fires at carports and garages. Ten occurred in Los Angeles and two were in West Hollywood, Moore said. They broke out shortly after 1:30 a.m.
Moore said authorities believe the latest fires were connected to the earlier ones. The number of suspicious fires now stands at 55, he said.
Detectives spent Sunday analyzing security video camera footage and following up on other leads after a half dozen more vehicles were set on fire on New Year's Eve.
