Man accused of targeting officer by setting fire to his apartment building

Montgomery County arson investigators arrested a Hyattsville man Friday in connection with a Jan. 19 blaze in Germantown, and accused him of setting the fire to harm a police officer who lives there and had previously had arrested him.

"He endangered the lives of everyone in that complex," assistant county fire chief Scott Graham said.

Raven M. Masters, 30, was charged with first-degree arson and four counts of attempted first-degree murder, fire officials said.

The police officer he allegedly targeted arrested him for burglary April 19, 2009, authorities said. The fire was set the morning of his trial date, Jan. 19, 2010.

Arson investigators believe a liquid accelerant was placed in a shared stairwell about 4:40 a.m. The blaze trapped four residents, who had to be rescued from balconies via firefighters' ladders, Graham said. One of the four went to a local hospital for minor smoke injuries. The fire caused an estimated $100,000 damage to the apartment building, at 12204 Eagles Nest Court, which houses almost 30 residents in about a dozen units, Graham said.

-- Dan Morse