Police arrest teenagers for Eastside arsons

Indianapolis — Police arrested two teenagers and are looking for other suspects in a string of early morning arsons Tuesday on the city’s east side.

Police and firefighters connected a dumpster fire in the 1300 block of North Olney Street and a garage fire on North Linwood Avenue to two boys, 15 and 16 years old. Investigators believe a second North Olney Street blaze that damaged an abandoned home may also be linked.

Neighbors said a second home burned on North Olney Street last night. Renee Lynch, president of the Brookside Neighborhood Association, said the abandoned home at 1311 North Olney St. caught fire early Tuesday morning, as well. Indianapolis
Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Hewitt said he can’t confirm that incident.

Shauna Bailey reported the garage fire at her Linwood Avenue home at 12:42 a.m. Tuesday. Bailey said her son, Chauncy, woke her when he noticed flames from a fire behind the house reflecting on a basement wall.

A mattress she’d set out for trash pickup was on fire.

“With the mattress burning, it caught the garage on fire and melted the city trash can they gave us,” Bailey said.

The mattress had burned down to charred springs by the time the Baileys went outside with a fire extinguisher. Firefighters had to help put out the flames on the outside of one garage wall and removed a burned section of the paneling.

The flames were far enough from her house that she wasn’t worried.

An IMPD fire investigation unit ruled out accidental causes and estimated damages at $1,000. Police say the fire started about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Bailey has only lived in the rental house since last Friday, but she said the unfortunate housewarming gift didn’t make her feel unsafe.

“I was just surprised,” Bailey said. “I was like, ‘I just moved in here, and now this happened.’”

By 1:15 a.m., another fire was reported at 1311 North Olney St. There were no injuries reported in the fire except a minor steam burn a firefighter received on the scene. He was treated on-site.

Three neighbors called Lynch last night to report the fires. Her position as neighborhood association president means she’s acutely aware of the abandoned homes in her area.

She said it’s a consistent problem there — a home across the street from her has been empty for 90 days.

“Situation’s like last night, that’s ridiculous,” Lynch said.

Sherry and Emery Bowe live in the 1400 block of North Olney and said they didn’t notice anything until they awoke to a street filled with fire trucks around 6:30 a.m.

They couldn’t see flames coming from the burning home a few houses down, but noticed lots of smoke, they said.

The couple was less surprised than Bailey. They remember another blaze a few weeks ago in a different abandoned home down the street. There are at least half a dozen vacant houses in their block.

“It’s an invitation,” Emery Bowe said. “For meanness.”

The Bowes have lived on Olney street for more than 25 years, and incidents like this make them uneasy.

“But we’ve gotta live here,” Sherry Bowe said.