Authorities have charged 47-year-old Shawn Hinson with first-degree arson and second-degree assault.
A strange arson case in Kitsap County, captured on home security video, shows a man driving a golf cart with a dog and carrying two torches as investigators say he set a fire that destroyed a home and detached garage.
Authorities have charged 47-year-old Shawn Hinson with first-degree arson and second-degree assault.
A Ring camera recorded the alleged incident, and the homeowner said an alert from the camera helped save his life after his son received the notification and called to wake him.
Law enforcement video shows a man pulling up to a home in the 2700 block of Locker Road SE in Port Orchard on Aug. 4. The sheriff's office released the video, and court documents identify the driver as Hinson, who is seen next to a corgi and holding two torches, including a weed torch.
Neighbor Dan Carlson said he was stunned by what he saw. "I thought it was nuts. Who would do that?" Carlson said. "How can people do this? What people in their right mind think of doing it?"
In court filings, Hinson said he ingested marijuana edibles and Jack Daniel's. A responding deputy alleged in the same filings that Hinson was unable to maintain a "clear and direct" conversation.
The fire was also captured on video by neighbors Anita and Dan Carlson, who live across the street. Anita called police, and Dan Carlson said he ran to pound on the homeowner's front door to warn him.
The homeowner, who asked that his full identity not be used, told KOMO News in a phone interview that the fire left his house a total loss and destroyed his new car. "Everything is gone: bathroom, kitchen, house. There used to be a comfortable couch to sit on and look out the window; it's all gone."
Hinson was arrested shortly after Carlson confronted him. "I jumped in front of him, and I said, 'What the heck are you doing?' And the weirdest thing, he told me, 'It's OK, I'm with the fire department.' I looked at him and said, 'The heck you are,'" Carlson said.
Carlson said Hinson drove the golf cart at him and tried to come at him with a propane torch, leaving a black mark on Carlson's shirt.
Carlson said he and his wife noticed the suspect while taking a rare 5:30 a.m. soak in their hot tub. Anita Carlson said the man "started doing donuts in the driveway; I thought maybe he's having some mechanical failure, 'cause lighting a house on fire was not one of my thoughts." Anita Carlson said they later realized the suspect was a neighbor who lives about a quarter-mile away.
Asked about the video, Anita Carlson said, "It was incredible that someone had a torch and was trying to light a house on fire."
The homeowner is retired, and his wife was in California at the couple's second home at the time of the fire. He is staying nearby with his son's family while he sorts through next steps. He said the fire also destroyed a large and meaningful collection of tools.
He said he does not know a motive beyond what the suspect allegedly told police about edibles and alcohol, and he said he has no connection to Hinson. "At the end of the day, nothing puts my house back, changes the destruction that is done, nothing absolves the crime."
Hinson is scheduled for a court hearing on Aug. 24.
