LOCAL : Boy, 9, Admits Setting School Fire
A 9-year-old boy with a history of arson confessed to police today that he and an 8-year-old friend vandalized and set fire to their school in Boyle Heights, causing $275,000 damage.
Hollenbeck Station Juvenile Detective Ben Lovato said he took the boy into custody at 7:30 a.m. at the youngster’s home. The boy admitted that he and his companion--neither a gang member--spray-painted gang graffiti on the classroom walls and piled items in the center of the room before setting the fire, Lovato said. Police were still looking for the 8-year-old boy.
The fire was set in a second-floor classroom at the Malabar Elementary School at 1:29 a.m. Thursday and was extinguished about 40 minutes later. No one was hurt.
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