News

Actions

PD: Arsonist sets fire to homeless shelter, had plans to set more fires

Posted at 12:53 PM, Sep 19, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-20 09:30:21-04

A convicted arsonist set fire to a south Phoenix homeless shelter where nearly 500 people were evacuated.

Court records show that on September 12, a woman who previously served three years in prison for an arson, set fire to a homeless shelter causing the evacuation of 484 people. 

According to Phoenix police, 32-year-old Audrey Camille Akers went to a homeless shelter near 12th Avenue and Jackson Street and went into the woman's sleeping area bathroom. There she allegedly set fire to toilet paper and a t-shirt using perfume as an accelerant. 

Some women ran out and alerted staff. Police say that 484 people were evacuated from the shelter. The fire caused a reported $500 in damage, before staff workers were able to put it out.

Akers spent three years in prison for a fire she set in 2010.

Akers reportedly admitted to an officer that she set the fire at the homeless shelter and planned on setting more.

Akers has been charged with arson of an occupied structure.