Winnipeg man confesses to 2 arsons: police

City police have arrested a 49-year-old man who they say confessed to setting two fires Friday at his home and a downtown office building.

Jonathan Roger Hein surrendered at police headquarters late Friday afternoon, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Sunday.

Hein told officers that earlier on Friday afternoon, around 2:42 p.m., he poured gasoline inside his home in the 200 block of Pritchard Avenue and ignited it, causing an explosion that blew him out of the house.

The blaze spread to a neighbouring home, forcing residents to evacuate. Hein was not injured, police said.

He fled, then bought more gasoline at a nearby convenience store, police said. He allegedly poured it in the lobby of an office building in the 300 block of Donald Street and set it on fire around 4:13 p.m.

Employees escaped unharmed, but the lobby sustained significant damage, WPS said.

Hein walked to police headquarters shortly after the second fire and turned himself in, investigators said. He faces two counts of arson with disregard for human life and two counts of arson causing damage to property.

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Claude Chancy confirmed the site of the second fire was the Manitoba Housing office building on Donald Street, between Portage and Notre Dame avenues.

Chancy would not speculate on a possible motive, or say whether Hein had any connection to the office building.

“(There is) nothing that I can speak to. That forms part of the investigation that will have to be dealt with in court,” Chancy said by phone.

The police spokesperson said Hein is known to police and has had prior contact with officers throughout the years. He was not subject to any release conditions at the time of the fires, Chancy said.

It is not uncommon for people to turn themselves in at police headquarters, but it is rare when the do so immediately after a crime occurs, Chancy said.

Hein is not currently a suspect in other recent arsons, Chancy said.

By Sunday morning, all that remained of the Pritchard Avenue home was a pile of charred rubble behind a perimeter of metal security fencing.

A neighbour living across the street said the house burned quickly and intensely.

The man, who did not provide his name, said the initial explosion was strong enough that he could feel the force from inside his home.

“I felt a big bang, it shook our house,” he said, speaking from his front step on Sunday.

“(Another neighbour) was running to see if there was anybody in the house or anything.”

The man said he did not know who was living at the property, or why someone would set it on fire.

Hein remains in custody, police said.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca