Man charged with setting fire at California Home Depot

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A person charged with setting a fireplace that gutted a Northern California Residence Depot, prompted a whole bunch to flee and stuffed the sky with smoke was attempting to cowl up a theft of instruments, authorities stated Tuesday.

Dyllin Jaycruz Gogue, 27, of San Jose, was arrested final Friday. He appeared in courtroom Tuesday and was given a public defender and a June 1 courtroom date to enter a plea. He was being held with out bail.

Gogue is accused of setting a fireplace that started within the lumber part of the Residence Depot in South San Jose on April 9. He was attempting to create a distraction whereas making off with a cart stuffed with instruments however drove off with out taking them, prosecutors stated.

The five-alarm fireplace destroyed the shop, inflicting an estimated $17 million in injury to the shop contents. The fireplace, which took about 100 firefighters six hours to regulate, despatched up an enormous black plume of smoke. Individuals in close by houses and companies had been instructed to remain inside out of issues that the smoke would possibly comprise poisonous chemical compounds.

The fireplace burned close to a whole bunch of houses and was so scorching that it was seen by satellites, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo stated at a information convention.

Santa Clara County District Lawyer Jeff Rosen stated the fireplace erupted on a weekend when the shop was stuffed with consumers and he was grateful that his workplace “just isn’t prosecuting a a number of homicide case immediately.”

“Miraculously nobody was damage,” he stated. “But it surely got here shut — far, far too shut — to inflicting many accidents and deaths.”

Gogue allegedly stole gadgets from a Bass Professional Store earlier than the fireplace, and he went on to steal from a Macy’s retailer afterward, authorities stated.

Along with aggravated arson, he is also charged with grand theft and petty theft involving shoplifting at six South San Jose shops between final October and April 2.

The brand new theft expenses span from October 2021 to April 2, involving $17,000 price of things from six South San Jose retailers. He may face a possible life sentence if convicted of all expenses, prosecutors stated.