Fire damage at three Walmart stores in K-W estimated at $12M (update)
Posted Oct 21, 2020 10:30:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Three Walmart stores. Three arson investigations. All within the span of an hour.
Police were called out to a Walmart in the Sunrise Shopping Centre at Fischer-Hallman and Ottawa in Kitchener at 9:17 p.m. Tuesday for the first of three blazes.
The second store impacted was at the Stanley Park Mall on Ottawa Street at 9:55 p.m.
And the third was at 10:20 p.m. at the Bridgeport Plaza location in Waterloo.
Police said the fires were all inside, and are all linked. The stores had to be evacuated as a result.
In an update Wednesday afternoon, Waterloo Regional Police confirmed the blazes were set in the toilet paper and paper towel aisles.
Damage at all three stores is estimated at $12-million.
Two investigators from the Office of the Fire Marshal have been assigned to the case.
On Wednesday night, police confirmed investigators are looking into a recent social media post.
It was posted on Twitter back in September and said, “Does anyone in Kitchener/Waterloo want to start attacking places like Walmart.”
Police did not provide any further specifics, except that investigators are aware of the post.
UPDATE: Kitchener Fire tells @570NEWS the estimated damage at the two Kitchener fires are in the $4M range combined, not $4M for each store. Majority of figure a result of product lost. So that $12M figure is now $8M, but still could rise. Investigation now in hands of WRPS.
— Mark Pare (@MarkLPare) October 21, 2020
.@WRPSToday remain on scene of the Walmart at the Sunrise Centre in Kitchener, one of three Walmarts that dealt with fires within an hour of each other last night. Combined damage estimated to be $12M+. This location remains closed to shoppers. @570NEWS pic.twitter.com/tKbizW6lM0
— Mark Pare (@MarkLPare) October 21, 2020
With files from Erin Anderson
