Convicted arsonist accused in Walmart blaze, caused $10M in damage

A convicted arsonist on probation is accused of setting a blaze inside the Walmart at St. Vital Centre on Monday that’s believed to have caused more than $10 million in damage.

“A fire was set in the middle of a busy place,” said Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy.

“It’s a pretty rare incident. We don’t know what the motives were for the suspect committing this act, but (it’s) very lucky that no one was injured or hurt.”

Ronald Marmito Amigo, 47, was arrested by police bail compliance officers on the 300 block of Furby Street on Thursday. He had a small amount of methamphetamine and a lighter on him, police said.

He was charged with arson with disregard for human life, arson causing property damage, possession of incendiary material for the lighter, theft under $5,000 and possession of meth, as well as two counts of failing to comply with probation.

Police allege Amigo went to the bedding section of the department store and lit a fire shortly before 7 p.m. on Monday.

As the flames spread and black smoke permeated the building, police say he went to the Walmart’s in-store McDonald’s restaurant and helped himself to a beverage from the soft drink machine, as 150 to 200 shoppers and staff were forced to evacuate. The theft charge is related to the soft drink.

The building’s sprinkler system extinguished much of the flames and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel managed to quickly put out the rest, but police said the damage is estimated at more than $10 million.

Major crimes investigators took over the probe and soon identified Amigo as their suspect.

Bail compliance officers on patrol on Furby saw him walking in a parking lot and arrested him, before a warrant for his arrest had even gone out, said Chancy.

“It was pretty quick work,” he said.

Amigo pleaded guilty last summer to arson to property over incidents on Jan. 29, 2025.

Police said at the time he set fire to a pile of cardboard he found in a store’s unlocked garbage room on the 2300 block of McPhillips Street, then left to light a trash bin on fire beside a Leila Avenue business. He was arrested on McPhillips.

Amigo was given 10 months, less the time he served in jail awaiting court, amounting to another 27 days in jail, court records show. He was also given 18 months of supervised probation for the 2025 arson.

In August 2024, Amigo pleaded guilty to possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and forcible entry for incidents in October and November 2023, records show.

His time awaiting court in jail was counted as his sentence, along with 18 months of supervised probation.

Amigo has also pleaded guilty to several court order breaches in recent years.

The Walmart remains closed.

In a social media post earlier this week, the store directed customers who use the St. Vital location’s in-store pharmacy to the Walmart on Lakewood Boulevard in Southdale, where their pharmacy records would be available.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca