Suspect in Custody on Suspicion of Setting Fires Inside Walnut Creek Library
WALNUT CREEK — A man suspected of setting fires inside the Walnut Creek Library and elsewhere downtown is in custody. Police and the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) continue to investigate his role in eight small fires.
Three small fires were reported one after another in the downtown area on December 2. They were all started inside trash dumpsters between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.
Police and firefighters from the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) responded and the blazes were quickly extinguished. There were no witnesses or suspects located in the vicinity.
At 11:40 a.m., fabric was reported burning outside Lesher Center for the Arts, and this fire was also quickly extinguished. A few minutes later Walnut Creek PD received reports of several small fires inside the city library.
The library was evacuated after four fires were set, but no injuries were reported. Fires were set alight inside two trash bins. A chair was set on fire and one book was set aflame.
Police located a witness who provided a description of the suspect. Patrol officers and plain clothes officers located the suspect identified as 28-year-old Oscar Aguilar-Campos. He was arrested while walking in the downtown area.
Aguilar-Campos was booked on suspicion of arson and burglary, and he remains in custody at the West County Detention Facility.
Police and Con Fire investigators are working closely on the case, which will be presented to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office for review. Anyone with information about the fires can call the Walnut Creek Police Department at 925-943-5844.
