A 26-year-old man was being held Friday at the Baltimore County Detention Center without bail in connection with an attempted arson at a Middle River Royal Farms store, police said.
Evan Wendell Hunt, who has no fixed address, was arrested and charged with the threat of arson, attempted second-degree arson and numerous other charges. Hunt was awaiting a bail hearing.
Police responded to a disturbance at a Royal Farms in the 12500 block of Eastern Avenue just after 10 p.m. Tuesday. An initial investigation found that a man refused to pay for an item and left the location.
Shortly afterwards, the man came back, removed a fire extinguisher from a gas pump and discharged it in the parking lot. Police said he then grabbed numerous gas pump nozzles off their pumps and forcefully stuck them against the sides of the gas pump terminals. He then attempted to ignite numerous gas pumps while threatening to set the location on fire.
Authorities later found Hunt a short distance away from the scene with the fire extinguisher, police said.
–Danielle Nadoryk-David