Woman Arrested In Redwood City Church Arson
REDWOOD CITY (CBS SF) -- A woman was arrested Tuesday as a suspect in an arson fire at a Redwood City church last week, authorities said Tuesday.
Redwood City police said the arson happened April 28 at Rise City Church at 1305 Middlefield Road at about 9:30 p.m. Arriving officers found a planter box on fire, and the fire was beginning to spread to the front entrance to the building.
Firefighters with the Redwood City Fire Department arrived and extinguised the fire, but the building sustained water damage from the sprinkler system and smoke damage, police said.
Surveillance video recorded just before the fire started showed a woman in the area wearing a blue shirt, with black leggings, carrying a black and white backpack, and wearing a red scarf as a headband.
Police detectives identified the suspect as Maria Elena Zurita, 58, who was in possession of the black and white backpack and also wearing the red scarf as seen on the video surveillance.
Zurita admitted to her involvement in starting the fire and was subsequently arrested and booked into the San Mateo County Jail for arson, police said.
Anyone that may have additional information regarding this incident was asked to contact Redwood City Police Detective David Denning at 650-780-7141 or the Redwood City Police Department's Tip Line at 650-780-7110.
