Police arrest man suspected of setting a string of fires
PALO ALTO >> A 23-year-old Palo Alto man who is suspected of setting four fires during a four-hour span early was arrested over the weekend, according to police.
Terry Lee Hill Jr. of Palo Alto was taken into custody Saturday night and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for four felony counts of arson, according to Palo Alto police.
The suspicious fires were reported between 2 and 5:30 a.m. Friday, including a vehicle parked in the Caltrain lot on Urban Lane that was engulfed in flames, according to police. There were no injuries associated to the fires.
The other fires included a dumpster on the 100 block of Palo Alto Avenue, a dumpster inside a parking garage on the 500 block of High Street, and foliage along a bicycle path near the intersection of Alma Street and Homer Avenue.
Saturday at about 9 p.m. an officer on patrol in the area of the 600 block of Urban Lane spotted Hill, who “bore a strong resemblance to the person of interest” captured by a surveillance camera near the fire on Palo Alto Avenue. Hill was detained and eventually arrested.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the city’s 24hour dispatch center at 650329-2413.
Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org, sent via text message or voice mail to 650383-8984, or submitted through the Palo Alto Police Department’s free mobile app, which can be downloaded at bit.ly/PAPDAppStore or bit.ly/PAPDGooglePlay.