Police Arrest Man After He Allegedly Set Own Home On Fire
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - Police in Aurora arrested an armed and dangerous suspect wanted in an earlier incident involving a series of bizarre events that started in Federal Heights early Wednesday morning.
The ordeal began when police in Federal Heights investigated a man who sent threatening texts to his girlfriend before he set his mobile home on fire.
Officers rushed to the home in the Kimberly Hills Mobile Park near 92nd Avenue and Federal Boulevard early Wednesday morning. Investigators say the man sent his girlfriend, who lived in the mobile home with him, threatening texts about killing her and her daughter, and included officers in the texts.
He ran away from the fire in an unknown direction.
Officers in Aurora received information that the man, identified as John Thomas, 45, was in the area of the 3000 block of South Peoria Street in Aurora about 2:30 a.m.
Authorities believe Thomas had easy access to numerous weapons.
Officers followed Thomas to the tattoo shop where he worked and had been hiding since about 4 a.m. Wednesday. Officers said Thomas ran into the shop in a strip mall on South Peoria Street in an attempt to get away from officers.
Some surrounding businesses were evacuated during the standoff.
Aurora police tweeted that Thomas was arrested shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday.
North and southbound South Peoria Street from East Cornell Avenue to South Parker Road were closed during the standoff. Police also urged people living in the area to stay indoors until the suspect was detained.
Police say Thomas made threats to officers while he hid inside the tattoo shop.
Thomas is now facing first-degree arson, harassment and domestic violence charges said.
