April 15, 2019 update: Aaron Raschke has been found not criminally responsible for his actions because of a mental disorder, according to a story in today’s Times Colonist. A psychiatrist said that Raschke suffers from a long-standing psychosis, according to the story.
Update: Thirty-year-old Victoria man Aaron Raschke is facing 11 charges, including arson, break and enter, theft, and mischief, after the incident at Interurban. His court appearance was the morning of Tuesday, November 27.
Camosun College has announced that all classes scheduled in the CBA, PISE, and CTEI buildings will again be cancelled on Tuesday, Noevember 27. The college is currently conducting air quality testing, which is close to completion, according to a college press release. Look for more information on Tuesday about Wednesday classes.
Camosun College is today dealing with the aftermath of break-ins and arsons over the weekend at its Interurban campus.
At 2:20 am on Sunday, November 25, alarms at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence (PISE) building at Camosun College’s Interurban campus went off after someone broke into the building and started a fire in it.
The Saanich Fire Department responded to the alarm, and at approximately 2:45 am an intruder alarm went off in the Centre for Business and Access (CBA) building; Saanich Police brought a canine team in to investigate, and a dog found someone running out of the building.
Saanich Police contained the area and arrested a 30-year-old man believed to be responsible. He remains in custody of Saanich Police. Charges of break and enter, arson, mischief, and theft are being recommended, according to a Saanich Police press release.
As well, there were also arson and/or vandalism incidents at the Technology Centre, the Helmut Huber annex, and the Centre for Trades Education and Innovation (CTEI).
Camosun vice president of student experience Joan Yates says the series of events started at PISE, then moved to CBA, then to Helmut Huber Culinary Arts Centre, as well as over to CTEI. Yates says the damage was minimal in some places, and more substantial in others.
“Because there was both fire and vandalism involved, there’s a fair bit of breakage; things like glass,” says Yates.
Helmut Huber was open on Monday. The Technologies Building was closed because it is adjacent to CBA but is now open; by Sunday afternoon, says Yates, Technologies was “deemed safe.”
CBA, PISE, and CTEI are closed until further notice, which Yates says should come around 3 pm today.
“We began remediation work as soon as fire and police were done yesterday, roughly around 12:00, 1:00,” says Yates. “We then got contractors and our Facilities folks in there to do the work. We’re very much on top of it, trying very hard to get this resolved as quickly as possible.”
Yates says the college will have a better idea of the extent of the clean-up by Monday afternoon.
Whether or not a break-in alarm went off in PISE prior to the smoke alarm is unclear, but Yates says the time between when the first alarm went off and when the arrest was made was “just under half an hour. About 28 minutes,” says Yates. “There was a lot done in a very short period of time.”
Students are advised to check the college website and D2L site for information from their instructors.
The college initially said that the suspect was not believed to be associated with the college, but whether or not they are or were a Camosun student has not been confirmed, says Yates.
“We don’t know who the individual was,” says Yates. “It’s still a police matter. But what police have indicated is that, indeed, this is somebody well known to them.”
More information on this story as it develops.