[Anchor]
A man in his 70s who set fires at two buildings in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, stated that he did so to frighten a patent law firm that had deceived him and to make his grievances known to the world. Police have requested an arrest warrant to continue investigating him in custody.
Reporter Kim Gyu-ri has the details.
[Reporter]
The hallways of the building are completely blackened, and parts of the ceiling have been torn away.
Inside the office, office supplies, including computers, were mostly burned and turned black.
This is the interior of the building located 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).
A is accused of setting consecutive fires at two buildings in Yeoksam-dong about 200 meters apart, leaving one person in cardiac arrest and injuring 18 others.
A is reportedly to have largely admitted to the crime during police questioning.
He reportedly stated that he intentionally set the fires to scare the patent law firms that had deceived him and to make the matter known to the world.
[Suspect A (The evening 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 indicating that A set fire 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 point, the police are looking into whether A intentionally set the fire there to block escape routes, as the representative offices of the patent law firms were located in front of those elevators.
Evidence of a premeditated crime is also coming to light.
Police confirmed that A began purchasing plastic containers near his residence in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, starting on 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 eyewitness statements that he searched for a particular employee before starting the fire.
It was confirmed that neither of the two patent law firms affected by the fire had sprinkler systems installed.
(Photo: Kim Hangyul | Video editing: Yoon Tae-ho, Design: Cho Su-in)
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