Capitol Hill Plagued by Over 30 Arson Fires 

Washington, D.C., police are looking for the arsonist believed responsible for over 30 fires set in the Capitol Hill neighborhood since early March. Four fires were set Wednesday morning and 10 were set the previous night. 

Local station NBC4 reported Wednesday that a federal warrant is out for the arrest of 50-year-old Mohammad Al-Rashidi, whom police believe is homeless. Police arrested Al-Rashidi in May after he was caught lighting a fire in a trash can but released him after prosecutors dropped the charges. District of Columbia Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told NBC4, “The prosecutors didn’t feel they could get a conviction.” 

Most of the fires Al-Rashidi is suspected of starting have been in trash cans, but both St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center on Capitol Hill have been damaged from larger fires. The church’s garage, containing the pastor’s car, was lit on fire last month, destroying the car. Police estimate the damages total around $30,000.  

The day after the church fire, security footage showed the suspect light a fire in a trash bin and walk away.  

Construction equipment on the side of the Kirby Center building was set on fire Wednesday night. Scorching from the flames reached up to 20 feet high. Staff from St. Joseph’s Church, just blocks from the Capitol, discovered another trash can fire on the property Thursday morning. 

Donnelly warned, “These fires are happening in the middle of the night. They’re happening where they could grow, and my fear is that one’s going to extend to a house and someone’s going to get hurt or lose their property. … This is a big problem.”