Firebombing Suspect Arrested: Fairfield Man Connected To 3 Incidents, Police Say

SOLANO COUNTY, CA --Police say they have arrested a Fairfield man in connection with three firebombings Thursday night and early Friday morning.

Matthew Scott Jones, 39, is suspected of throwing an incendiary device through a window of an apartment in the 2900 block of North Texas Street around 10 p.m. on April 27.

Two people were in the apartment at the time, and police said that Jones, their neighbor, used racial epithets toward them and had been acting erratically over the past month.

Police extinguished the apartment fire and the victims were not injured.

Police also responded to a car fire on Thomas Court at 11 p.m. Thursday. The fire was similar to the incident at the apartment an hour earlier, police said.

Officers responded to a fire and explosion in front of the police station at 1000 Webster St. at 1 a.m. Friday.

Witness descriptions of the suspect in the two earlier incidents and video of the suspect committing the firebombing in front of the police station led to the identity of Jones as the suspect, police said.

Police located Jones driving his car around 1:40 a.m. in the 2900 block of North Texas Street near the apartment fire incident.

Then around 12:06 p.m. Friday police said that a bomb squad was en route to the 2400 block of Crocker Circle, where businesses were evacuated after a similar incendiary device was located near chemicals that could have posed a threat if ignited.

That device was rendered safe around 1:25 p.m., police say.

Jones was arrested without further incident, and he was booked in the Solano County Jail for attempted murder, committing a hate crime, possessing a destructive device, possessing a destructive device with intent
to injure, exploding a destructive device with intent to commit murder and arson.

There are no other suspects in the incidents, police say.

Previous coverage: Bomb Squad Investigates Incident At Apartment Complex

Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Fairfield police