Jackson man charged with arson
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JACKSON, Tenn. — Police arrested a Jackson man Tuesday accused of setting a woman‘s house on fire. When officers picked up the suspect, investigators said they found marijuana and a gun inside the vehicle. Ten days after a fire destroyed a home on Saint James Cove, authorities officially charged Bryant Montrell Hunt with arson. Hunt faced a judge in Jackson on Thursday morning on multiple counts including arson, vandalism and aggravated burglary. “I mean they seem like a pretty cool family, you know, and this neighborhood is not a bad neighborhood or anything like that, so it’s a shock to me,” neighbor Corie Womack said. Firefighters said the garage door was halfway open when they arrived, and investigators said a door into the house was kicked in. “The door handle was knocked off,” Jackson Fire Battalion Chief Brian Bowers said. Court papers show investigators with Jackson police and the State Fire Marshal‘s Office also responded. “Inside the house, it was just multiple burn origins,” Bowers said. “That makes it suspicious for us.” According to an arrest warrant, an ignitable liquid was poured in at least three rooms and lit with an open flame source. According to an affidavit, a canine indicated on an accelerant present on the clothing Hunt was wearing when officers arrested him. According to an affidavit, on Nov. 7, three days before the fire, Hunt‘s mother told investigators her son told her he was going to burn down his girlfriend‘s house. Investigators said the next day Hunt sent his ex-girlfriend a text saying, “U wil be homeless by sunrise if I don‘t get a answer! I am tired of playhn wit yal n idc.” “That’s crazy, man,” Womack said. “I mean, it ain’t worth all that, you know.” Hunt is being held at the Madison County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond. He is scheduled to return to court Nov. 26.
