Left: One unidentified teenager facing arson and burglary charges in Washington state after allegedly setting a historic middle school ablaze on Jan. 3. YouTube screengrab from NBC affiliate KING. Top left: Tacoma Fire Department X social media post of Gault Middle School inferno./Bottom right: Aerial footage of Gault Middle School fire January 2024. YouTube screengrab NBC affiliate KING.
Police in Washington have charged two 15-year-olds with first-degree arson and second-degree burglary for their role in allegedly sparking an inferno that raged inside a historic middle school after one of the children’s mothers identified her runaway son as a suspect in video of the blaze that surfaced on the news.
The teens are not being charged as adults so their names have not been released. Both the boy and girl appeared before Pierce County Juvenile Court Judge Karen Watson on Thursday and pleaded not guilty. Watson did not remand the teens to custody despite a request from prosecutors to do so.
“It’s not what we’ve done in the past but the decisions that we make going forward that really determine how you progress in this case” she told the 15-year-olds, according to Seattle NBC affiliate KING. “So, I encourage you to make the best of choices.”
A third juvenile may also face charges but none have been filed at this time. A request by Law&Crime for comment from prosecutors in Pierce County was not immediately returned on Friday.
According to The News Tribune, the 15-year-olds, who were involved romantically, lit the fire inside Gault Middle School on the morning of Jan. 3, causing a fire so large the roof collapsed and huge plumes of smoke wafted above it and over the city. Firefighters battled the blaze for days and could not go inside due to structural concerns. Police said the teenage duo were accompanied by at least three others when they lit the fire.
The girl is accused of recording the blaze as it built and sharing it online. Her voice was allegedly recognized by a high school security guard and police also said it was the boy’s mother who saw a video of the fire on TV and caught a glimpse of the teens in a clip, the News Tribune reported.
The woman reportedly called the fire department when she suspected the boy in the video was her son who had run away roughly a month before despite requests from her and the boy’s father to come home. He was unenrolled from school before this incident due to excessive absences.
The school, built in 1926, was shuttered in 2009.
It sat in disrepair for years as residents in Tacoma wrestled with how to handle the increasingly decrepit building and deter the vandalism that plagued it.
The Tacoma Public School District spent more than a year, according to their website, looking for ways to rehabilitate the space including using it for mixed-use retail and housing and a shared outdoor community space. But with the cost to restore and revitalize it steadily increasing year by year, the building was ordered to be demolished.
Exterior of Gault Intermediate School, circa 1940. The brick two-story building was opened in 1926 and named in honor of Dr. Franklin B. Gault, superintendent of Tacoma Public Schools 1888-92. Courtesy: Tacoma Public Library Online Digital Collections
But before that could safely happen, the 15-year-old couple destroyed it, prosecutors allege. Police say they also found two lighters in the boy’s backpack when they arrested him and another boy at the girl’s home in Gig Harbor, Washington.
The school slid into disrepair after years of declining enrollment, according to Tacoma Public Schools. Next week, the district said it will partner with the state to begin a hazardous materials assessment as well as conduct a “certified asbestos remedial and removal” assessment if necessary.
“Tacoma Public Schools will be responsible for partnering with Washington State Department of Labor & Industries on identifying a properly licensed environmental firm to provide a hazards assessment of the site and a separate certified asbestos remediation and removal contractor for site assessment and clean-up, if needed,” the statement reads in part.
Tacoma Fire Department X social media post depicting Gault Middle School fire in January 2024.
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