Eighteen-year-old illegal immigrant Marvin Adelso Hernandez Lopez is being charged with arson and the illegal possession of a firearm, records show.
High school student Hernandez Lopez confessed to officers of the Arlington County Police Department in Virginia that he was carrying a gun and started a fire at an apartment building in May to get back at an acquaintance, police told ARLnow.
“[He] admitted that he and other co-conspirators talked about setting a fire at the residence of someone who owed him money,” a criminal complaint said, according to ARLnow. “[Hernandez Lopez] and co-conspirators filled a 7-Eleven cup with gasoline, and the accused ignited the fire under investigation.” (RELATED: Pentagon To Deploy 600 Military Lawyers To Oversee Immigration Backlog)
Fire marshals located a 7-Eleven cup near the fire, and a K-9 detected an accelerant, court documents said, according to ARLnow.
Breaking: Units responded to & extinguished a fire in a garden apartment stairwell on the 1000 block of S Quebec St. Several occupants were trapped & brought down via ladders. Two occupants were transported with non life threatening injuries. FMs will be investigating the cause. pic.twitter.com/SnV7H3o23y
— Arlington Fire & EMS (@ArlingtonVaFD) May 15, 2025
Several occupants of the apartment complex were trapped in the building and two needed to be transported to the hospital, according to the the Arlington Fire Department.
Days before the fire, the Arlington County Board voted to prohibit county police from voluntarily cooperating with federal immigration officials, stating that those who commit local crimes should be dealt with locally, according to ARLnow.
This “Trust Policy,” formally known as “Arlington’s Commitment to Strengthening Trust with Our Immigrant Communities,” was adopted by the county government in 2022 and was later amended as immigrant-rights activists pushed to prohibit officers from voluntarily collaborating with federal officials, like members of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), if charged with various crimes, according to ARLnow.
Records show that Hernandez Lopez has been charged with two accounts of Arson, manufacturing and possessing a fake ID, possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, and reckless handling of a firearm with no serious injury. If convicted, Hernandez Lopez could be looking at decades behind bars.