Bay Area man charged with murder by fire

Andre Weston is accused of killing homeless man

OAKLAND >> A Bay Area resident was arrested on a murder warrant after he was identified as the suspect in the March 2021 killing of a man whom authorities say was deliberately set on fire during an argument, court records show.

Andre Weston, 58, was charged with murdering William Vann, 58, in Oakland last March. Weston was arrested July 27 in San Francisco and is in Santa

Rita Jail in Dublin on a no-bail hold, court records show.

Weston has several aliases listed in the criminal complaint: Mwenzi, Dre Mac Daddy, Mac Daddy Dre, Andre Smith, and Pierre Weston.

Police said at the time that Vann was found at about 8:10 p.m. March 3 outside in the 500 block of Douglas Avenue in the Brookfield Village neighborhood with severe burns covering his body. He died five days later from his injuries.

According to a police probable cause statement filed in court, Weston was identified as a suspect “through video surveillance and witness statements.” Police allege he doused Vann with an accelerant and set him on fire as the two argued. The nature of the argument has not yet been made public.

Vann was homeless at the time and believed to have been living in his car in the area where he was killed, authorities said. Weston’s next court date, where he is expected enter a plea, has been set for August 23, court records show.

The complaint alleges that Weston has prior convictions for lewd act upon a child, failing to register as a sex offender, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, false imprisonment, assault, and dissuading a witness.