A man has been arrested on an arson charge in connection with a fire at an apartment complex in Cobb County on Tuesday morning, authorities said.
Cobb fire crews and police responded around 10 a.m. to the fire at the Mableton Village Apartments on Old Powder Springs Road near U.S. 78 in Mableton. An investigation determined the blaze was intentional and an arrest warrant was obtained for 25-year-old Sebastian Perez, fire officials said.
According to a criminal warrant, Perez allegedly set a mattress on fire in the kitchen of a unit. He then went to the rear of the building, where he broke a window of another apartment. Several occupants called 911 to report the fire, the warrant stated.
When fire crews arrived at the scene, Perez told them the blaze was in the kitchen and admitted to setting the mattress on fire with a lighter, according to the warrant. He said things “were not going right” with his family, so he wanted to end all of their lives and “all the pain they have gone through,” the warrant stated.
It’s unclear if anyone else was inside the apartment at the time.
Perez was hospitalized after the fire and later taken into custody, officials said. He was booked into the Cobb jail on a felony charge of first-degree arson, according to online records.
The fire remains under investigation.
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