Surveillance camera images show restaurant arson suspect

EUGENE, Ore. - Police released surveillance images of a suspect in the arson last month at a downtown Thai restaurant.

The images show a white man with a thin build and collar length hair with a beard wearing a baseball cap and light-colored zip-up sweather and carrying a dark colored backpack.

The images were captured Aug. 29, 2012, around 2:45 a.m. Investigators think the suspect intentionally set fire to a refuse bin outside Ta Ra Rin restaurant at 1200 Oak Street.

Police ask anyone who recognizes the suspect to contact Detective Steve Williams at (541) 682-2682.

The fire started in the cardboard recycling bin and burned up onto a beam on the building.

Firefighters said sprinklers activated, protecting the building.

Firefighters called the fire suspicious from the outset because it resembled the suspicious fires that have been happening in the last year in recycling and garbage bins around town.

In all those cases, the fires have started overnight, with multiple fires started in close proximity.

Another fire call came in the morning of Aug. 29 around five blocks away from Ta Ra Rin in an alley off of Broadway between Charnelton and Lincoln.