WASHINGTON — A man started a fire in the Pentagon City Metro station Wednesday morning, and Metro Transit police are trying to find him.
The department released a photo Wednesday afternoon of a man labeled as a “person of interest” in the case. The picture appears to have been taken by a fellow rider on a crowded rush-hour train.
Metro spokesperson Dan Stessel said the man who burned some type of material at the far end of the Pentagon City platform around 8 a.m. was later seen on at least one train holding a sign. The fire went out on its own, and no injuries were reported.
Investigators would like to hear from riders who saw the sign, and anything else they may have observed about the incident.
One Metro rider, Meghan Calnan, tweeted that her train was held for a few minutes around the time of the incident, but Stessel said there were no significant service disruptions and no evacuations.
blue line held at pentagon city. "sorry we had a report that there was someone on board trying to start a fire" um, what!? @unsuckdcmetro
— meaghan calnan (@megcalnan) October 5, 2016
Police released a video of the suspect on the train:
Add’l re: Pentagon City burning case: VIDEO of subject holding sign on train this AM. If you saw him, pls call us at (202) 962-2121 #wmata pic.twitter.com/X1H5qUqmpf
— Metro Transit Police (@MetroTransitPD) October 5, 2016
