Fires inside Richland Walmart have police seeking 2 suspects. Store was closed for hours
Police are hunting for two suspects caught on video when three fires were set inside Richland’s Walmart Thursday night.
Employees first noticed a small fire in the garden center shortly after 10:30 p.m., called 911 and grabbed a fire extinguisher, Richland Battalion Chiefs Ron Duncan and Mike Wroolie said.
As Richland firefighters were responding to the store on Duportail Street, employees found additional fires in the housewares section and the stationery area.
All of them were small, and were quickly extinguished, and no one was hurt.
It forced the store to close for nearly five hours while firefighters and store employees used fans to get rid of the smoke.
It’s uncertain how much damage the smoke did before they got it out, but the flames didn’t spread far, officials said.
Police used surveillance video to identify two suspects, Christopher Crappa, 26, and a man wearing a gray T-shirt and baseball hat.
Anyone with information about the fires or men is asked to call Richland police at 509-628-0333.
Intentional fires in big box retailers are rare for the area, but not unheard of.
Daniel R. Wright started a blaze in the garden center of Richland’s Fred Meyer in January 2018 so he could steal a PlayStation. He was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree arson.
This story was originally published June 7, 2019 at 10:00 AM.