An 18-year-old and a juvenile have been charged with criminal damage to property in the second-degree after an apartment fire that displaced 29 people in Duluth on Monday.
Gary McKinley of Lawrenceville and an unidentified juvenile were both arrested Tuesday afternoon after being interviewed by fire Investigators with the Gwinnett County Fire Department.
Investigators said the felony charge stems from reckless actions that damaged multiple apartment units and injured three residents as they escaped from the burning building at Landmark at Bella Vista on Satellite Boulevard.
Both McKinley and the juvenile were seen discharging fireworks in the breezeway of the building, according to investigators, and the pair admitted to leaving spent fireworks devices on the wooden railing and the wooden floor in the area.
McKinley was taken to the Gwinnett County Detention Center by police. Information about the juvenile was not released based on the suspect's juvenile status.
