Cars intentionally torched by arsonist in Southern California neighborhood

An arson investigation is underway after several cars were torched in Los Angeles’ Chinatown neighborhood overnight, police confirmed to KTLA.  

Neighborhood residents who live between North Bunker Hill Avenue and Bartlett Street awoke at around 4:30 a.m. Sunday to flames engulfing several of their cars parked at the curb.  

“I get outside and it’s like the world is on fire,” Daniel Finnerty told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff. “The apocalypse is happening in my front yard.”  

Residents who spoke with KTLA said it’s not uncommon to come across scenes like this, random and destructive fires, but this time someone was targeting people’s cars.  

“You got a car down there in flames and then up a block, you just hear boom, and I assume it was a tire exploding,” Finnerty added. “It’s crazy stuff.”  

Unfortunately, Cecelia Martinez’s family car went up in the blaze.  

“My biggest fear was that the cars were going to explode because I had just put gas in my car,” she explained. “I don’t have a car right now. Yeah, insurance will pay, but what happens to all of the memories that we had in that car. It was our family car.”  

Thomas Conrad told KTLA that he believes the fires could be the work of someone living in a nearby homeless encampment.  

“Here we go again,” he said when asked what he thought of the situation. “It’s a thrill to commit crimes knowing you probably won’t get caught and if you do, you get the proverbial slap on the wrist.”  

Investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department spent time at the scene collecting evidence, saying arson was to blame for the charred destruction left behind.  

“It’s not what they did,” Johana Martinez said. “It’s more about the car they took from us. It’s really going to hurt because they don’t know the sacrifices my parents made to actually get us that car that we were all comfortable in.”  

Anyone with information about the fire is urged to contact LAPD. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-222-8477 or leave tips online at www.lacrimestoppers.org