arson car richmond hill

Video shows arsonist casually pouring gas on car and torching it in Richmond Hill

York Regional Police (YRP) have shared a shocking video of an arsonist at work in Richmond Hill, where a criminal can be seen nonchalantly pouring gasoline onto a car and setting it ablaze in the owner's driveway.

Investigators from the YRP #2 District Criminal Investigations Bureau are appealing to the public for help in identifying the individual shown committing the brazen arson, which occurred on the morning of Wednesday, February 14, 2024, shortly before 5 a.m.

Police were called to a residence in the area of Lucas Street and Rumble Avenue for a report of a vehicle on fire, arriving to find a fully engulfed vehicle in the residence's driveway.

Richmond Hill Fire and Emergency Services extinguished the blaze, and nobody was injured in the fire.

A clip of the incident shows a dark-coloured, four-door sedan park on the street, close to the residence, before a passenger exits the front seat and douses the victim's vehicle in what appears to be gasoline or another accelerant. The suspect then fled the scene.

Video captured shortly after the arsonist struck from a nearby commercial plaza shows what appears to be the same suspect vehicle's occupants ditching the jerry can that contained the accelerant in a rear loading area.

Police claim the vehicle has since been identified as a black, four-door Hyundai Elantra that had been reported as stolen at the time of the incident.

Investigators are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

Lead photo by

York Regional Police


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