Before Bellevue Mosque Arson, Suspect Made Death Threat: Police

BELLEVUE, WA - Days before he allegedly started a fire that burned the Islamic Center of Eastside, Carlos Diaz-Cruz allegedly threatened to kill a Sammamish High School student, going so far as to brandish a gun, according to court records.

Diaz-Cruz, 18, a former Sammamish High School student, is being held in the King County Jail on $250,000 bail on an arson charge. According to Bellevue police, Diaz-Cruz is a transient who has prior convictions for assault, theft, and malicious mischief.

Firefighters put out a large fire at the Islamic Center of Eastside on the afternoon of March 21 - the second time the building had been burned since January 2017. During a search after the fire, investigators found evidence that people had been using the derelict building as a hang-out spot.

Using footage from surveillance cameras near the mosque, police identified three suspects, including Diaz-Cruz. Under questioning, one of the three suspects told police that Diaz-Cruz had set a pile of toilet paper on fire inside the mosque, according to court records. The fire got out of control, and the teens fled the building.

Under questioning, Diaz-Cruz told police he was "being stupid" when he lit the fire and was not acting with malice toward Islam.

About a week before the mosque fire, Diaz-Cruz contacted a Sammamish High School student through Facebook. Diaz-Cruz thought the student was a "snitch" and had gotten one of his friends suspended from school. During the Facebook exchange, according to records, Diaz-Cruz allegedly sent a photograph of a himself grasping a handgun. He was arrested on March 14 for that threat, according to police.

The friend that was suspended - the one Diaz-Cruz allegedly made the threat for - ended up being the one who told police about Diaz-Cruz allegedly setting the fire inside the Islamic Center of Eastside, according to court records.

Image courtesy Bellevue fire