Brownwood Police and Brownwood Fire Marshal Buddy Preston were called to McDonald’s restaurant on Christmas Day, located on E. Commerce in Brownwood, to investigate a burglary and fire.
A fire was initially reported at approximately 6:45 p.m. on Friday. When firefighters arrived, the sprinkler system had put out a small fire which had been started in the manager’s office, according to Preston. Police were called to investigate a case of burglary as well.
“It appeared that a suspect had broken into the building and set the fire to destroy any evidence of the burglary,” said Brownwood Assistant Chief of Police James Fuller.
According to police, an eye witness gave a description of a suspect who was located a short time later. The suspect was identified as 23-year-old Jerry Herrera, who was arrested after the witness made a positive identification. Herrera was charged with burglary of a building, arson and possession of a controlled substance penalty group 1 equal or greater than 1 gram less than 4 grams.
Fuller stated, “There was some good work and great luck involved” regarding the quick arrest of the suspect.
The arson and burglary are pending further investigation according to police and fire officials. The fire was small and McDonald’s was open for business on Saturday.
Pictured above is the scene Friday night as firefighters and officers arrived to investigate.
