Manalapan College Student Set Dorm Fire, Police Charge

MANALAPAN, NJ — A Quinnipiac University student who is originally from Manalapan was arrested over the weekend and charged with intentionally setting a fire in his dorm building.

Carmelo Fazzolari, 18, of Manalapan, N.J., was arrested Friday morning along with Bernhard Wright, 19, of Oslo, Norway. They are both students at Quinnipiac. Police say they were caught trying to start the fires in three dorm bathrooms and inside trash cans early Friday morning, Nov. 17. Fazzolari is pictured above, and Wright is below, in photos released by Hamden, CT police.

They set the fires between 2 and 4 a.m. Friday, police said. A fellow student was burned on his hand trying to move a burning trash can out of the dorm, which housed 482 sleeping students.

"Several students, who witnessed the fires, reported them to a Residential Life member," said Capt. Ronald Smith in the Hamden, Connecticut Patch. "The Residential Life member contacted the maintenance department. A student suffered a burn to his hand, while attempting to move a burning trash can."

Wright and Fazzolari were charged with third-degree arson, first-degree reckless endangerment, reckless burning and third-degree criminal mischief. They were both released after posting a $1,000 bail and are both scheduled to appear in court Nov. 30.

“Both students have been suspended from the university pending their conduct meeting,” a spokesperson from Quinnipiac University said.

Photos released by Hamden, CT police.