“I’ve filmed some big fires,” he said, “but this was incredibly fast.”As Raishbrook's recording played, Abdulwali watched intently. The man charged with burning down the Da Vinci apartment complex and causing $100 million in damages, bragged about the fire at a hotel party a week later and was angry at high-profile police killings of African Americans, a witness testified Tuesday. During Tuesday's hearing, Gomez said he didn't remember hearing Abdulwali, 57, make such comments and he appeared visibly upset as a prosecutor played a recording of his conversation with the police. Both men testified that they didn't go to police at the time because they didn't think Abdulwali was serious about burning buildings. During Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors played surveillance video from a nearby Bank of America that captured the minutes leading up to the fire.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 10, 2016 21:09 UTC