[Anchor]
A man in his 70s suspected of setting a series of fires in the heart of Gangnam has confessed to the crimes. He claimed he wanted to scare patent law firms that had deceived him and make his grievances known to the world. Police have requested an arrest warrant.
Reporter Kim Gyu-ri has the details.
[Reporter]
The hallway of the building is completely charred, and parts of the ceiling have been torn away.
Inside the office, office equipment, including computers, was mostly burned and turned black.
This is the interior of the building in Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where a man in his 70s, surnamed A, set a fire around lunchtime the day before yesterday (October 20).
Suspect A is accused of setting consecutive fires at two buildings in Yeoksam-dong about 200 meters apart, leaving one person in a state of cardiac arrest and injuring 18 others.
A is reportedly to have largely admitted to the crimes during police questioning.
He reportedly stated that he intentionally set the fires to scare patent law firms that had deceived him and to make the matter known to the world.
[Suspect A (The evening of the day before yesterday): (When did you start preparing for the crime?) About three days ago. (Do you have anything to say to the victims?) Tell them not to commit fraud anymore.]
Circumstances showing that A set fires near the building elevators have been discovered, and police are investigating the exact cause of the fire based on a joint forensic inspection.
Having pinpointed the ignition points, police are looking into whether A intentionally set the fires in front of those elevators to block escape routes, as the representative offices of the patent law firms were located there.
Evidence of a premeditated crime is also coming to light.
Police confirmed that A began purchasing plastic containers and other items near his residence in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, from October 16, four days before the crime, and bought gasoline at a gas station the day before the incident.
Police have requested an arrest warrant for A on charges of arson resulting in injury to an existing structure, and are also considering applying charges of attempted murder targeting a specific individual, based on witness statements that he was searching for a specific employee before setting the fires.
It was confirmed that neither of the two patent law firms affected by the fire had sprinklers.
(Photo courtesy of Kim Hangyul, Video by Yoon Tae-ho, Graphics by Cho Su-in)
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