Man arrested, 2 women injured in supermarket fire

CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Chula Vista police reported the arrest of a man suspected of setting a fire at a supermarket Saturday morning that left two employees severely burned.

Jose Carlos Villanueva, 47, of Chula Vista was taken into custody in Redlands, more than 100 miles north.

Police said the crime was not random and believed that at least one of the victims knew Villanueva.

Shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday morning, officers were called to a 7-Eleven near the intersection of Broadway and L Street. En route, they learned that a store employee may have been on fire inside the building.

When officers arrived, they saw smoke rising from the store's front door and a woman with significant burns leaving the store.

Officers heard a voice from inside the store and pulled out a second woman who had suffered severe burns and was unable to move on her own.

Both women were taken to a hospital. Police say one of them is in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, the other is in serious condition.

Due to the suspicious nature of the fire, Chula Vista Police detectives and Chula Vista Fire arson investigators were called to the scene. Police said their initial findings indicate that a man entered the store and started the fire with a flammable liquid, likely gasoline, before driving away.

The man was last seen driving east on L Street in a dark-colored BMW sedan. Investigators were able to obtain the car's license plate and enter it into a criminal database. Redlands police spotted the car at a gas station after receiving an alert from an automatic license plate reader and arrested Villanueva without incident.

Police are asking anyone with information to come forward. Anyone with information is asked to contact San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477 or submit tips anonymously online or through the P3tips mobile application.