Investigators Seek Two Men Seen Near Downtown Inferno

City and federal investigators probing the cause of a fire that destroyed an under-construction apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles asked for the public’s help today in identifying two people who can be seen in video footage taken near the blaze.

The pair are not considered suspects or people of interest in connection with the fire, which broke out early Dec. 8 and consumed the Da Vinci apartment complex. The two people are considered “potential witnesses.”

“Investigators have identified them as being in the area of the fire, and merely wish to interview them,” according to a statement from the Los Angeles Fire Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, both of which are investigating the cause of the fire.

The investigators released two videos, with each showing one of the potential witnesses.

One video shows a man in a T-shirt, jacket and baseball cap walking along a chain-link fence surrounding the burning property, and at one point he appears to try to jump the fence before he is grabbed by a pair of firefighters. The second video shows a man walking along a street, wearing what appears to be a football jersey with the number 21 on it, and carrying a backpack.

Anyone with information about the people on the video was asked to call the LAFD’s Arson Section at (213) 893-9850.

Some fire officials speculated after the that given the size and rapid spread of the blaze at 906 N. Fremont Ave., it could have been intentionally set.

A national ATF response team arrived at the scene last week to help LAFD arson investigators comb through the burned-out wreckage.

• City News Service
• Photo Credit: LAFD