Skip to main content

Video of suspect in Comet Ping-Pong fire released

Related News

WASHINGTON — The D.C. Fire Department has released video footage of the man they said started a fire inside Comet Ping-Pong last week.

The videos show the man trying to destroy the surveillance equipment while a fire burns in the background a little after 9 p.m. on Jan. 23. D.C. Fire and EMS said that a “minimal” amount of damage was caused, and that restaurant workers put out the fire before firefighters got there.

The man is described as white, in his late 20s, with blond hair, a mustache and a beard.

If you have any information, the police ask that you call the Arson-Explosives Task Force at 1-888-ATF-FIRE (1-888-283-3473).

It’s the second time in recent years that the restaurant has come under attack. A North Carolina man entered Comet on Dec. 4, 2016, with an assault rifle and fired a shot into a cabinet. He was convinced of a bogus conspiracy theory that the restaurant was harboring child sex slaves.

The man, Edgar Maddison Welch, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition as well as a D.C. charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to four years in federal prison in June 2017.

Did matcha start trending at the worst possible time for DC teahouses?

When you walk into the Teaism teahouse in Penn Quarter, the frantic energy of the downtown D.C. neighborhood melts away on a floral breeze. Hundreds of pounds of dried tea line the walls in decorative boxes, and for Lela Singh, daughter of co-founder Michelle Brown and manager of the Teaism Shop, it has become a kind of second home.
Read Next Story