Residents are on high alert after four arson attacks were reported on the same day in the same San Jose area.
Security camera footage caught the moment the arsonist on a bicycle maneuvers down William Street near 16th Street. He is seen lighting up the Molotov cocktail and flinging it into a terrace of a home.
A huge flash envelops him and startles the homeowner.
“I saw a big red flash outside the window, I thought it was somebody shooting fireworks,” said homeworker Alessio Roic. “As soon as the major flame went off, there were still flames that I could see through the blinds.”
The homeowner’s own security camera shows him putting out the fire.
“The window could’ve broken, I was sitting just next to the window,” Roic said. “So it could’ve gone a much worse way.”
The Sunday night incidents started with this attack on a Willow Glen home with the Molotov cocktail exploding on the porch around 8:30 p.m. Fifteen minutes later, several miles away, the attack on south 16th Street.
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Five minutes later, a flaming device was tossed at a home on nearby east San Fernando and a final fire incident was reported close by an hour later.
“Seeing the almost cool, calculated way that the person stopped, got off the bike, sort of measured the distance, lit it, threw it, and observed it,” said Roic. “You don’t associate forebombs with Silicon Valley.”
The fire department said the arson unit is still investigating but residents have been told investigators confirm the four cases are believed to be related.
