Fire investigators say arson is the cause of an early-morning blaze that destroyed several businesses in a building on Westerville Road.
“We found accelerant around the building,” Columbus Battalion Chief David Whiting said.
The building at 3296 Westerville Rd., south of Innis Road in Mifflin Township, contained the Capital Cafe, Islamic Bookstore and Imani Tax Service, all Somali-owned, and a vacant banquet hall. The businesses were gutted.
Masjid Salama, a mosque located next door on the same property, was not damaged.
At a morning news conference, Whiting said it was too early in the investigation to know whether the fire could be considered a hate crime.
Mohamed Maalim, the owner of the bookstore and tax service, said the lack of damage to the mosque makes him think there was some other motive for the blaze. He said none of the business owners is insured.
The fire was discovered about 4 a.m. by a Franklin County deputy on patrol. The building was so heavily damaged by the time firefighters arrived that they didn’t enter the structure and took a “defensive” approach to battling the fire, Whiting said.
Investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the state fire marshal’s office, and the Columbus and Mifflin Township fire divisions are working on the case. The ATF is involved because businesses in the building conducted interstate commerce, said Wayne Dixie, assistant special agent in charge of the Columbus field office.
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Source: Columbus Dispatch
