Chapel Hill: Man charged in the Raising Cane's Franklin Street fire

In Chapel Hill, police arrested a man after Sunday night's fire at Raising Cane's on East Franklin Street. The town's news page on Monday, Nov. 9, said officers arrested John Long, 45, in connection with a downtown fire the night before. That index listing does not name a charge. The full town release was not opened for this update.

Chapelboro, The Daily Tar Heel, and WRAL also reported the arrest of John Long, 45. The Daily Tar Heel said he is from Moore County. Chapelboro and WRAL, in the stories opened here, do not.

The charges are accusations. Long is presumed innocent unless he is proven guilty in court.

What the accounts say he is charged with

Chapelboro, citing a Chapel Hill Police release, said he was arrested for intentionally starting the fire at 101 and 103 East Franklin Street, the Raising Cane's and an empty storefront next to it. That story says the charges are breaking and entering and burning a commercial structure, and it calls the burning count a felony.

The Daily Tar Heel, citing the police report, said the counts are burning occupied commercial property, a felony, and breaking and entering. It quoted a case release order: "Fire was initially set in an unoccupied portion of the Raising Cane's property but spread to the occupied portion of the commercial building and the business had to be evacuated."

WRAL named Long and said witnesses identified him. The story opened here does not list a charge. This page is not collapsing those wordings into one count.

The Daily Tar Heel said he is at the Orange County Jail with no bond because he was already on pretrial release in another matter. Chapelboro said he is at the Orange County Detention Center with no bond, and it did not mention another case. WRAL did not state a bond.

When crews got there

Chapelboro, citing the release, said Chapel Hill Fire and Rescue was called at 11:52 p.m. and had the fire under control by 12:07 a.m., with no injuries. WRAL reported the same 11:52 p.m. call, said the blaze was contained within 15 minutes, and said no one was hurt. It described the empty storefront as a former Starbucks. The Daily Tar Heel's arrest update said there were no reported injuries and that the fire was under control around midnight.

Those times sit next to an earlier line in The Daily Tar Heel. A Chapel Hill Fire Department member who responded told the paper the fire was out by 11:30 p.m. and that no injuries were reported. The paper put the start around 11 p.m. at 101 East Franklin Street. An eyewitness in that story put the alarm at about 10:50 p.m. Employees and customers were sent out of the restaurant and nearby buildings, the paper wrote, without naming who gave that order. Smoke was still in the dining room and along the street at 11:40 p.m., that account said.

Chapelboro's first item on the fire, Aaron Keck's Monday morning brief, said only that a late-night fire broke out at the downtown restaurant.

The restaurant on Monday

Chapelboro and The Daily Tar Heel, each citing the town, said damage is still being assessed and that Raising Cane's was open Monday with the usual hours. WRAL said the damage review is underway and the restaurant was open again early Monday.

Kanen Lawson, community safety public information officer, had told The Daily Tar Heel there was nothing more to share when the paper first published. The arrest material was added on that same story later Monday.

Other Orange County stories are on the county page. Chapel Hill's fire department assisted at a separate October fire at a Carrboro Public Storage facility.

Triangle Local is not the police department and not an emergency service. Call 911 if someone is in danger.

What is still open

The charge title is not identical in the stories above, and WRAL does not give one. The court outcome is not known. Neither is the dollar damage, or which out-time is the one the fire department will stand on. The full town release is still unread here.

Photos

Text-only. No scene photographs are used here.