(10-31-19) On Thursday October 31, 2019 at 01:44 am, personnel from the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office and the Niles Township Fire Department responded to a call of an Arsonat the Walmart Store, located at 2107 S. 11th St.

When the personnel from the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office and the Niles Township Fire Department arrived on scene, they learned that unknown individuals set fire to some merchandise in the apparel department.The store was evacuated of all its customers and employees, while the Niles Township Fire Department cleared the smoke out of the building,and rendered the store safe.

Nobody was injured in this incident and the investigation revealed that a quantity ofclothing from the apparel department was destroyed. The exact value of the destroyedmerchandise has not been determined yet.The initial investigation currently leads the investigators to believethat a white male,who was wearing a black jacket and blue denim jeans and a white female, who was wearing a University of Michigan jacket may have intentionally set the fire inside of the store, prior to fleeing the area in a dark colored vehicle.The investigation into this incident is currently ongoing any anyone with information isa sked to contact the-

Berrien County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau at (269) 9837141 ext. 7224 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-342-Stop (7867).

The Berrien County Sheriff’s Office has responded to three similarArsons at this location in the past ten months and the investigators are attempting to see if the incidents are related.The three prior Arsons at this location occurredon April 26, 2019, June 13, 2019, and July 19, 2019 and no suspects have been identified and these three investigations remain active.