Man charged with arson after Bainbridge Safeway fire

Published 4:15 pm Monday, July 27, 2015

A 32-year-old Kingston man was charged with second-degree arson in Kitsap County District Court Monday after authorities alleged he set a fire in a bathroom at the Safeway grocery store on Bainbridge Island in late June.

Keith Richard Granger was arrested and booked into Kitsap County Jail just after 8 p.m. Saturday, July 25.

According to court documents, the Bainbridge Island Fire Department was called to the Safeway grocery on High School Road just after midnight on Saturday, June 27.

Employees at the store noticed smoke coming from a bathroom in the back, and workers put out the fire using an extinguisher while another called 911. The fire was out by the time firefighters arrived, but Bainbridge fire officials later determined the fire had started on top of a garbage can that was beneath a paper towel dispenser and had been intentionally set.

Police soon found a suspect in the case.

The grocery has multiple security cameras inside, and several employees saw a man on the video they recognized as Granger, a former Safeway employee.

One employee also recalled seeing Granger in the store on the night of the fire, after he came down the aisle where she was working.

She told police she had asked Granger about his hot dog stand, but he “appeared to be in a hurry, walking away while she was still speaking with him,” according to court documents.

The store employee watched as Granger went through a checkout line and another employee asked about his hot dog business, but he left quickly and without his receipt.

Moments later, a worker discovered the fire and starting yelling. The store was cleared out as employees fought the fire and called 911.

Police reviewed a security video and saw a man entering the back room of the store and look around, then continue toward the store’s bathrooms. A few minutes later, the same man was seen on the video leaving the area, and smoke started to fill the room where the camera was located.

Three employees at the store reviewed the video and identified the man on the security tape as Granger.

A store employee also told police that Granger had worked for Safeway a year earlier, but left under good terms.

Police reviewed Granger’s Facebook profile and determined he appeared to be the same person as the one on the security video from the store.

The fire caused roughly $900 in damage to the bathroom and another $1,306 in damages to groceries.

Police interviewed Granger in jail on Sunday, July 26. He initially denied setting the fire, according to court documents, but allegedly said later he had lit a piece of toilet paper on fire, using a lighter from his pocket, and then threw the piece of paper into the trash.

He said “he became more scared after it caught fire quickly.”

Granger also said he bought a bottle of hard cider and left the store.

Granger also allegedly told police that he was getting married in two weeks and was stressed out.

“He also said he did not intend to hurt anybody and what he did was stupid,” according to court documents.

Granger is currently being held in the Kitsap County Jail on $50,000 bond.

Second-degree arson carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison upon conviction and a $20,000 fine.