A known white supremacist gang member in Orange County has been charged with murder in connection with a high-speed police pursuit crash that killed a Vietnamese tourist and seriously injured two others, officials announced Thursday.
The Dec. 2 incident unfolded at around 7:30 p.m. when officers with the Fountain Valley Police Department responded to reports of arson at a home on the 18000 block of Arches Court.
The suspect, 43-year-old Huntington Beach resident Timothy Cole, reportedly used an accelerant to set a bush on fire outside the home of his sister’s fiancé, according to a news release from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
“The fire engulfed the bush in flames and spread to the structure of the home,” the Police Department stated .
Cole’s motive for igniting the fire, prosecutors said, was retaliation for custody of his children after his sister called child protective services.
Residents at the home, with the help of a neighbor, were able to extinguish the blaze which spread to the porch.