Mentally ill man in custody following arson attack on Manchester supermarket

A mentally ill man who is suspected to have set ablaze a supermarket in Christiana, Manchester, on Wednesday is now in police custody and receiving treatment.

Eyewitnesses say the man was seen lighting a fire near the bag room attached to the front of the building.

Deputy superintendent at the Mandeville Fire Station, Rohan Powell, said a call was received at the Christiana Fire Station approximately 2:20 a.m.

He said the fire, which started in the bag room, spread to the interior of the supermarket but was quickly contained.

The estimated loss, he said, is $300,000.

No one was injured.

One business operator in the area, Lennox Powell, said there is no unease within the business community stemming from the incident. 

"Normally most people in Christiana try to treat people of unsound mind good. We try to feed them if they are hungry, give them a biscuit and juice or $100," he said.

Powell said this is key in helping to avoid any instance where a mentally ill person may act violently as a result of perceived ill-treatment.

"Some business persons don't understand that... Sometimes the best way to deal with them is not use aggression. Understand that they are not well and treat them accordingly. We know many of them by name and we talk to them how they can understand. We try to treat them with as much respect as possible and we generally don't have any issues," Powell stated.

-Tamara Bailey

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