There’s a guy running around Portland lighting fires, getting arrested, getting released, and then you guessed it, lighting more fires.
His name is Aubrey A. Edwards. He's 35, and according to the Portland Police Bureau, he's behind a string of arsons stretching from North Portland to downtown. According to Fox 12 Oregon, it all started Tuesday evening around 7:50 p.m. when officers responded to a car fire near Northeast Failing Street and North Vancouver Avenue. When crews arrived, the vehicle was already burned out. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Edwards was arrested nearby.
Investigators also believe Edwards set another car on fire earlier that evening near Northeast Mallory Avenue and Beech Street.
He was booked into jail at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday on two counts of second-degree arson and two counts of reckless burning.
Less than two hours later, he was released.
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Shortly after walking free, Edwards allegedly lit six to eight more fires across Portland, from downtown to North Portland. He was arrested a second time that same night.
Police now believe Edwards is also connected to other recent fires in and around the Irving Park area, including incidents reported on July 20 and July 27.
This case follows closely on the heels of another high-profile arson investigation in Portland.
As reported by KATU, 31-year-old Shaun Szwarz is facing 38 criminal charges, including three counts of first-degree bias crime, after allegedly starting a four-alarm apartment fire on July 11. Prosecutors say he targeted three non-white neighbors in his building. One of them, Abraham Olmos, told KATU he was preparing for a camping trip when he heard Szwarz shouting racial slurs from the unit below. Moments later, fire broke out.
Olmos, along with his brother, girlfriend, and nearly 80-year-old mother, escaped the burning building by jumping from a second-story balcony. Olmos suffered severe burns on his arms, and his mother sustained burns and a spinal fracture.
Szwarz pleaded not guilty to the original charges and is scheduled to be arraigned on the new indictment this week.
Meanwhile, police are continuing to ask for the public’s help in gathering information about all of the recent arson cases. Anyone with information related to Aubrey Edwards is asked to contact Detective Meredith Hopper at
📧 [email protected]
