A 40-year-old man accused of spending a night inside a Downtown Bellevue office building, wrecking a business and trying several times to start fires is now in custody. Bellevue Police estimate the damage at $2.3 million.
An officer on patrol spotted Zachri Jon Armour at Bellevue Way and NE 2nd Street around 10:46 a.m. on Oct. 14 and took him into custody without incident.
The case began in the early hours of Sept. 28, when a fire was reported at about 3:09 a.m. on the 200 block of 108th Avenue NE. Crews extinguished it. Evidence officers collected at the scene showed the business had also been vandalized.
Detectives working the case determined that Armour entered the building around 8 p.m. the previous evening and remained inside for roughly seven hours. They say he damaged many parts of the building, made repeated attempts to set property on fire and took items from the business before the fire alarm went off around 3 a.m.
Investigators linked Armour to the break-in through forensic evidence, which also showed he was inside the building during that overnight window.
Armour was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of first-degree arson, first-degree malicious mischief and second-degree burglary, one count each. His bond is set at $300,000.
