Federal authorities executed a search warrant Tuesday in St. Louis in connection with an investigation in Puerto Rico of a tourist accused of setting businesses on fire last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in St. Louis is helping authorities in the U.S. territory conduct an arson investigation, but no arrests have been made, spokesperson Lisa Storey told NBC News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities in Puerto Rico said they\u2002are close to charging<\/a> a suspect in the incident, in which security cameras caught a tourist suspected of setting the fire, Puerto Rico\u2019s largest newspaper, El Nuevo D\u00eda, reported Tuesday. Charges could come as soon as this week or next week, Lt. Miguel Rivera Sep\u00falveda of the Mayag\u00fcez Police Department\u2019s explosives division told the newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos and pictures of the incident have gone viral on social media, and it has sparked outrage among Puerto Ricans on the island and in the mainland United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The incident took place early Thursday in the small coastal town of Cabo Rojo in the southwest part of the island. The woman, whom NBC News is not naming because she has not been charged or named in the ATF investigation, left Puerto Rico and was back in the mainland, authorities in the island said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wish they could have arrested her yesterday,\u201d Cabo Rojo Mayor Jorge Morales Wiscovitch said. \u201cShe needs to be returned immediately and face the country\u2019s justice system. It wasn\u2019t just businesses that were burned. There were rooms on the second floor where people were sleeping. People could have been burned and killed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morales said the suspect is a tourist who had been at one of the businesses, the restaurant, and was harassing people. Police escorted her twice to the nearby Airbnb property where she was staying. Later that night, after the businesses closed and everyone had gone home, reports of a fire began to emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Morales said security video from one of the businesses allowed investigators to identify the suspect as the tourist who had been harassing people earlier in the night. She later left in a white car that picked her up, Morales said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The restaurant, Bar Marea, said Thursday on Facebook<\/a> that the tourist arrived at the business late at night and seemed to be intoxicated and \u201cbegan to insult other patrons and even assaulted a woman and one of the servers.\u201d Bar Marea did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After the businesses closed, the woman returned with gasoline, spread it around the area and lit it on fire, the post said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The affected businesses include Luichy\u2019s Seaside Hotel, Marinera Restaurant, Artesan\u00edas Juavia and Bar Marea Restaurant, which rent space in the hotel\u2019s building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n About 50 people who were staying there were evacuated, the restaurant\u2019s post said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n