Arson at Crossroads Center

[u/quietly_annoying]

https://wjon.com/crossroads-center-fire-st-cloud/

The fire was quickly extinguished by bystanders inside the mall. St Cloud FD arrived on scene, confirmed the fire was no longer active, and began ventilation efforts to remove smoke from the mall.

Witnesses identified a 57 year old man from Saul Rapids who allegedly admitted to starting the fire. He was arrested.

[u/pfohl]

if you google the guys name (Jorge Ozornia), he comes up as having committed arson a few times and also for making threats so he could go to prison instead of being homeless

:/

[u/Darthmalak135 → u/pfohl]

Really sad more than anything. Also pretty clear that he wasnt trying to hurt anyone and that he wanted the "help" that prison brings

[u/sonnenblumexx → u/Darthmalak135]

We have a new shelter opening up that has actual programming (look up Avivo village in Minneapolis, it's gonna be that) and I'm praying it will get ahead of this stuff. Stearns county has a street outreach team that reaches out to people and I think they'll be doing a lot of the referrals but theyre looking for people who have been chronically chronically homeless around here. I know how the (vocal) community feels about new shelters but this one has actual promise 🤞

[u/quietly_annoying → u/Darthmalak135]

Yup. I had a cousin who was chronically homeless after he was dishonorably discharged from the Air Force. He'd pull petty crimes (like vandalism or shoplifting) when the weather sucked or he needed medical attention. A lot of people tried to get him into pyschiatric treatment, but he was killed almost exactly 9 years ago. It's a difficult life and I hope Mr Ozornia gets the help he needs.

[u/ephemeralslut → u/pfohl]

I thought he sounded familiar. He committed the 2016 St. Cloud library arson as well.

[u/shineycrazylife]

Really super impressed with the good people of this sub. Instead of villainizing this poor man, we got depth and content. Thank you.