Overview
- Police and fire investigators arrested 17-year-old Evan Banda at his South Fort Worth home just before 6 a.m. Thursday after a warrant was served with SWAT assistance and he was taken into custody without incident.
- Authorities say at least five vehicles were set on fire between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day across neighborhoods near Fox Run Park.
- Investigators spent roughly 10 days canvassing and compiling angles from multiple home surveillance cameras that traced a route from one fire scene back to the suspect’s residence.
- Officials report a consistent method in the fires, with broken windows, entry into the vehicles, and an ignitable liquid used to start interior blazes, often at corner-lot curbside parking spots.
- Banda is expected to be prosecuted as an adult; he was booked on suspicion of five counts of arson and transferred to Tarrant County Jail as formal charges are prepared.