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LCSO: Man uses shoe laces to stop bathroom arsonist

Posted at 10:38 PM, Nov 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-22 10:35:46-05

Lee County Deputies say a man set fire inside a bathroom at Bonita Beach Park and then wrestled the man who caught him.

Deputies arrested 27-year-old Jonathan Azcarretazabal Monday night after they say he went into the bathroom, set the garbage can on fire, climbed onto the ceiling rafters, ignited his jacket on fire, then wrapped it around an electrical box.

“What’s the motivation?” Paula Higbee, who was visiting Bonita Springs, asked. “It’s just bizarre.”

The report says a cleaning man showed up, found Azcarretazabal in the rafters, and told him to come down. When he did, the report says Azcarretazabal grabbed the cleaning man by the waist. That’s when the cleaning man reportedly took the shoe laces from his own shoes and used them to tie Azcarretazabal’s hands and feet until deputies arrived on scene.

"I wanna meet him!" Lauri Page of Bonita Springs said. “He’s a hero. A Bonita Springs hero.”

"it's like MacGuyver,” Higbee said.

People visiting Bonita Beach Park said it’s usually quiet and peaceful.

“For this area, it’s kind of unfathomable,” Page said.

“I’m sure the cleaning man will think twice before just going in by himself,” Higbee said.

Azcarretazabal was arrested in February 2016 for marijuana possession and DUI, and again in July of 2016 for probation violation.