CANYON LAKE: Man arrested after arson-related, attempted murder investigation

CANYON LAKE – Sheriff’s officials announced the arrest of a Canyon Lake resident, charged in connection with an April 8, arson-related, attempted murder investigation.

The incident that led to the search warrant and man’s arrest happened April 8 on the 22000 block of Giant Fir in Canyon Lake. It was the second arson-related incident to happen in the gated neighborhood over a four-day period. Both incidents resulted in the arrest of both alleged suspect’s within days of the incidents happening.

SEE RELATED: CANYON LAKE: Local man arrested, charged with starting blaze that displaced family of four and killed family’s dog (Click link to view the other arson related arrest.)

Authorities served the search warrant Friday, April 14, on the 28000 block of Yosemite Place in Canyon Lake.

The search warrant was served “in furtherance of an arson/attempt murder investigation,” Riverside Sheriff’s Sgt. Glenn Williams explained in a written press release after the man’s arrest.

While serving the warrant at the Yosemite Place residence, detectives and other officials from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Canyon Lake Police Department located and arrested the alleged suspect, identified as 44-year-old, David Brian Harry.

Very little other information was readily available about the arson fire and attempted murder investigation or what was actually set on fire at the victim’s Giant Fir residence, as no local law enforcement or fire agencies released incident reports or press releases after the incident.

The Yosemite Place home where Harry was arrested and the nearby Giant Fur residence where the arson-related attempted murder allegedly occurred are only separated by a few homes and a “T” intersection that connects the two streets.

The intersection that separates the victim’s and suspect’s residences is just one-half mile from popular Slalom Park on Vacation Drive, which crosses over Canyon Lake and separates the northern and southern portions of the private lake. The lake is only available for use by residents who live within the community.

Two arson fires set within four days

leave many residents in quiet, gated community in shock

The second arson fire and attempted murder investigation that led to Harry’s arrest began Saturday, April 8, about 8:20 p.m., according to officials.

After gathering information and developing investigative leads after the early April incident, sheriff’s officials obtained and served the search warrant at the Yosemite Place home April 14 about 1:30 p.m.

“Detectives seized several firearms from the residence, as well as a cache of ammunition,” Williams explained after Harry’s arrest. “Additionally, firearms registered to the suspect were seized at an address in the city of Placentia.”

After his arrest, officials booked Harry into the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta on a single count of suspicion of attempted murder.

An online jail records search revealed Harry was being held without bail.

When asked about the arson-related murder investigation, one of Harry’s next-door neighbors, who asked to be identified as “Jim,” said he had only heard rumors about the alleged incident and what he called “the ongoing problems between (his) two neighbors.

“I moved here to get away from all the crime and criminals,” Jim explained, saying he had no desire to get involved in his neighbor’s problems.

“I swear, I’m beginning to think nobody is safe anywhere,” Jim concluded.

Several other neighbors expressed shock when told about the two arson-related arrests and some of the neighbors admitted they had not even heard about the two incidents and arrests. Nobody else who resides in the areas of the two fires was willing to discuss the incidents or arrests.

First arson fire, which destroyed a family’s home leaving it uninhabitable

and killed the family’s dog,  resulted in an arrest just one day after the blaze. 

Harry’s arson-related, attempted murder arrest was the second time a Canyon Lake resident was arrested for an arson-related crime within a nine-day period.

The two arson fires were set just four days apart.

The first arson fire happened April 4, when 21-year-old, Canyon Lake resident Jeremy Jackson Jones was arrested the day after officials alleged that he started a residential fire. (Click other link to read about other arson-related arrest.)

According to officials, Jones intentionally set the residential fire in the 23000 block of Canyon Lake Drive North in Canyon Lake.

The ensuing blaze – that killed the family’s dog – caused  “significant damage” to the residence and left the home “uninhabitable,” according to fire and law enforcement officials.

The two arson fires were set at residences less than two miles distance from each other. Similarly, the two suspects arrested in the two separate incidents live less than two miles apart.

An online jail records search revealed the California Department of Forestry arrested and booked Jones into jail. He was charged with ten felonies and two misdemeanors.

Jones was booked into jail on suspicion of setting an arson fire to an inhabited dwelling, arson causing great bodily injuries, two counts of making criminal threats, starting an arson fire during a state of emergency, residential burglary, two separate counts of cruelty to an animal, revocation of probation and a prior state prison enhancement; all felonies. Jones was also charged with two misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and battery.

Both Harry and Jones are scheduled to be arraigned on charges related to the two separate incidents at the Riverside Hall Of Justice April 19.

“I have so many questions,” one local resident lamented.

“This (stuff) just doesn’t usually happen, especially not here in Canyon Lake.”

Neither fire nor law enforcement officials have announced or implied any connection between the two incidents; however some Canyon Lake residents have been left wondering about the two, nearly back-to-back arson-related incidents and arrests.

Upon hearing about the two arson-related incidents and subsequent arrests, Jennifer Rickett – who has lived within the gated community of Canyon Lake with her fiancé for just over four years and described her neighborhood as one of the “quietest, nicest” neighborhoods she has ever lived in – voiced her concerns about the two arson-related incidents and the attempted murder arrest in a phone interview.

“I just don’t understand and I have so many questions,” Rickett said. “Are these incidents somehow related? Did those two a– h—-‘s (alleged suspects) know each other? Were they working together?”

Rickett continued by asking incredulously, “Two arson fires set within four days of each other, both within walking distance of each other and both supposedly set by people who live right here in our own little community?”

“This (stuff) just doesn’t usually happen,” Rickett stated. “Especially not here in Canyon Lake.”

Rickett concluded by asking, “What’s the point of even having security gates, security patrols and our own police department trying to keep the bad elements out of our community when the enemy is already living right here, within our own gates?”

Anyone with information about either alleged arson-related incidents and their ongoing investigations is encouraged to contact Master Investigator Chris Barajas at (951) 210-1000. Callers can refer to incident file number CN170980012 and can remain anonymous. Citizens may also submit a tip using the Sheriff’s CrimeTips online form.

 

Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News and Anza Valley Outlook and also writes for Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg and breaking his back in an off-duty accident.

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center and Lake Elsinore Station, along with other locations.