Stockton police: Man dies after tent set on fire near Mormon Slough
A man died after a tent he was occupying near Airport Way and Mormon Slough in Stockton was set on fire Thursday night, according to the Stockton Police Department.
At about 5:33 p.m. the 35-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman were inside the tent when someone set the tent and the two occupants on fire, police said.
Three Stockton Fire Department engines also responded to the fire, two as they were returning from fighting a railroad bridge fire in south Stockton that also broke out late Thursday, Battalion Chief Brandon Doolan said.
More: Fire under railroad bridge in south Stockton causes temporary road closure
The victims were transported to area hospitals, where the man died of his injuries, according to police.
The fire and police departments are still investigating the fire, Doolan said. Whenever someone dies in a fire, the fire department seeks to determine whether a homicide occurred, according to Doolan.
"They're looking at it to make sure they are ruling out all other things," he said. "Any time somebody perishes, it raises it to a higher level."
Thursday's fire is not the first to break out in Mormon Slough, which contains numerous tents where unhoused people reside.
In November 2019, two people were hospitalized for injuries after another fire in Mormon Slough, under the connecting ramp bridge from the westbound Crosstown Freeway to northbound Interstate 5.
More: 2 injured as fire consumes homeless camp, sends smoke billowing over Stockton
Doolan said he's seen previous cases in is career of intentionally-lit fires resulting in deaths in homeless encampments.
Record reporter Aaron Leathley covers business, housing, and land use. She can be reached at aleathley@recordnet.com or on Twitter @LeathleyAaron. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Man in Stockton killed when attacker sets tent on fire, police say
