Homeless woman sets fire in bathroom of 13th Street Wawa
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
Diane Denise Thompson, 50, was arrested early this morning after allegedly setting a fire in the women’s restroom at the Wawa at 2305 NW 13th Street.
The fire alarm at Wawa went off at 4:00 a.m., alerting employees to a fire in the women’s restroom that caused approximately $3,000 in damage to the floor, wall, ceiling, and toilet paper dispenser. The building was occupied by both employees and customers at the time.
Surveillance video reportedly showed Thompson entering the restroom at 3:48 a.m. and leaving at 3:53 a.m. The video did not show anyone else entering or exiting the restroom during that period. Thompson was located sitting across the street at the intersection of NW 23rd Avenue and NW 13th Street.
Post Miranda, Thompson reportedly admitted to starting the fire, saying she lit some napkins in a paper cup to start the fire because an employee called her a “motherf***er.” Thompson is listed as homeless on the arrest report, with an address of GRACE Marketplace. She has been charged with first-degree arson of a building with people present.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.Â
Shut down DISGRACE Marketplace before someone gets murdered by one of the residents. And start locking crazy people in mental institutions again.
Please Have a little compassion here. There are people who are not homeless and do crazy things also but you don’t penalize the homeless where would you like them to go
To a non-college town. Staying here means they’re permanently stuck at the very bottom of job and lease applications. They cannot compete with college 50,000 students for jobs and apts. LEAVE NOW.
Send them back to where they came from, to their
Family’s, to their friends, or to a church. If they belong
In a mental institution, than there.
Hi Bobbie, invite the homeless to stay at your place.
That’s what you should be telling city and county commissioners. They invited them, let them board ’em.
If you keep voting for those idiots, you should volunteer.
Nimby, That’s for Bobbie.
So very true. I doubt one out of 100 homeless on our streets are originally from Gainesville. They come from all over the Country as they know which cities are easy to manipulate.
A bunch of lazy scoundrels, drunks, junkies, old pedophiles, professional moochers, etc. don’t need compassion. They need to be placed into a work camp where they work hard 8 hours a day and sleep at night instead of trying to burn down businesses who let them use the bathroom.
Bingo! Don’t be a panhandler, be a canhandler! All
Grace Mkt recipients must be up and out of camp at
Sunrise cleaning up the streets! We want to have
Zero waste by 2035. If you take the public money, you
Should give back with public service. Grace Market
Should be run line work release at the jail. In fact,
Let the Sheriff take over Grace Marketplace since it’s
Next to the jail.
That should have been: Grace marketplace should be run like work release at the jail..
Give em a bright yellow vest, a garbage can on wheels, and a trash picker gizmo stick… slogan on
Can; Gainesville: clean & green. homeless
Work program giving back to the community…makes
Me want to donate $ already.
Wawa is learning why Publix and Golden Corral refuse to open locations in District 1. Even if this Wawa is on MLK Blvd. instead, they seem to attract that GRACE element like a magnet.
Other counties release their inmates to Alachua county
To get Grace mkt benefits…that needs to stop pronto.
People with schizophrenia and probably other mental disorders are attracted to areas with lots of activity and different sights and sounds. That’s why they gravitate to cities instead of rural settings. Someplace like the intersection of University and 13th or even a busy Wawa at night is sure to attract some crazy people (when there are so many here in town). The intersection of Main and University also seems to attract some real winners.
Good idea: combine work release at the jail with a
Work program at Grace Mkt. Have the sheriff take
Control of Grace since there’s so many felons there already.
Process homeless like how they process new jail inmates…
The Walmart at Butler Plaza has no hand held baskets. You know, the ones you carry by hand for a few items? Why don’t they have them? They were all getting stolen!