SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio firefighters believe someone set fire to a West side building early Friday morning, and in the process, possibly may have set himself on fire.
"We had a witness that witnessed somebody throw something into the window and run off. And also we have a heavy smell of gasoline," said fire Capt. Robert Sepulveda "There was a shoe out here that was burning as we arrived.”
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The shoe was found on fire in the parking lot, steps away from the building, located in the 1000 block of Enrique M. Barrera Parkway.
When firefighters arrived around 5:30 a.m., the noticed the middle section of the building, which houses the office of a used car lot, was engulfed in flames.
Two other businesses -- a gym and management office for the property -- sit on either side of it.
"The center section is the only one that got damaged. The other two, the guys put it out real quickly so there was no damage,” Sepulveda said.
The owner of the car lot arrived at some time after firefighters had put out the flames.
He told KSAT 12 News that he was concerned about possibly losing important paperwork related to his automobiles.
Arson investigators were also called to the scene to look for the source of the fire. They did not make any arrests.
A man who showed up at the scene, claiming his family owns the building, said arson may not be the only crime that was committed.
He said someone also had broken into the management office portion of the building overnight by forcing open a side door.
Whether anything was stolen was unknown. It also had not been determined right away whether the break-in was related to the suspicious fire.
