BELLEVUE — Bellevue police say they’ve arrested a teenager they suspect of having started a fire at a vacant mosque.
The Islamic Center of Eastside was closed after having been previously damaged in a January 2017 arson. It was burned again on March 21, and police said traffic camera footage showed a group of five people running from the building moments before the fire.
The Bellevue Police Department said in a news release Thursday that school resource officers recognized them. Investigators located them on Tuesday and brought them in for questioning. One of the five, an 18-year-old, was identified as the primary suspect and booked into the King County Jail for investigation of first-degree arson.
Investigators say there is no indication the fire was a hate crime or bias-related.
