PORTAGE, Mich. – Police say a methamphetamine lab is what caused recent fire that displaced more than 40 apartment residents.
That fire happened at the Briargate Apartments on January 4th. Firefighters had arrived to flames coming out of a window on the top floor of one of the buildings. It took about an hour to get the fire under control because a ceiling had collapsed.
Upon further investigation and interviews, detectives determined that a meth lab caused the blaze. They will be submitting warrant requests for multiple persons of interest in the case, one of whom has already been arrested on unrelated drug charges. That individual has been identified as John Shank.
Some of the Portage officers who assisted in the arrest were engaged in the new Data Driven Approach to Crime & Traffic Safety (DDACTS) program.
Anyone with further information about this fire is asked to call police at 269-329-4567 or get in touch with Silent Observer.
