Investigators search for person setting fires in an apartment complex

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Investigators want to know who is setting fires in a local apartment complex.

Home surveillance video obtained by Channel 2's Carl Willis shows a suspect near an area where patio furniture burned.

Stephen Roberts, who lives at the Ashford Druid Hills Apartments in DeKalb County, said he's worried this situation could get worse.

Roberts said someone set his patio chair on fire on Dec. 18, then returned Dec. 28 to reignite the same chair. He said he also saw singed garland wrapped around a support beam.

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"What if something happened and the whole building went up? (What if) my neighbor's or my apartment completely caught fire," he said.

Neighbors said the video disturbs them. The man in the video appears to be holding a lit cigarette.

"He sees the camera, he gets spooked and walks away," Roberts said.

Roberts, fearing that he has a "firebug" on his hands, or at the very least, a vandal, filed a police report.

The DeKalb County Fire Department told Willis they have an investigator assigned to the case.

Neighbors said they need this to end and need the culprit to know that cameras are always watching.

"We don't want it to get out of hand. We don't want to be thinking about it every time (we) leave the house. What am I going to come home to and will it be worse?" Roberts asked.

Cox Media Group