Federal investigators released surveillance video this week in hopes of tracking down whoever set fire to a homeowner’s property near the dog track in Mobile earlier this year, in an attack officials are treating as a deliberate firebombing rather than an accident.
The incident happened around 1:25 a.m. on Feb. 15 outside a home off Old Pascagoula Road, according to a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who is leading the investigation. Investigators believe someone deliberately ignited a fire using an accelerant, based on lab analysis of a glass bottle and wick recovered at the scene.
The footage shows a dark-colored, extended-cab pickup truck driving slowly through a cul-de-sac before a small figure appears near the home, seemingly lighting something on fire before quickly fleeing the area. The fire burned only briefly before the homeowner spotted the flames and called the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department, likely preventing more serious damage.
“It’s fortunate the owner saw this,” the ATF agent said, noting the blaze could easily have spread to the house itself or to neighboring homes had it gone unnoticed longer. Investigators say the sparse population of the surrounding area at that hour makes the truck in the video a key lead in identifying who was involved.
A Mobile Fire-Rescue Department spokesman confirmed that authorities believe the truck seen in the surveillance footage belonged to the suspect. Investigators are asking anyone who recognizes the vehicle, or who has other information about the incident, to come forward.
Agents said cases like this one are relatively rare and tend to differ from typical arson investigations. Firebombings, the ATF agent explained, are usually symbolic acts aimed at a specific target rather than random vandalism, which means investigators must also consider whether the intended target was the actual victim or whether the attack was a case of mistaken identity.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the ATF’s toll-free tip line or the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department’s arson hotline. Investigators say tips can be submitted anonymously and any information, however small, could help identify who was behind the attack.
The investigation remains open, and authorities have not identified a suspect or a possible motive publicly as they continue reviewing evidence gathered from the scene and analyzing the surveillance footage frame by frame for additional clues.