ATF joins investigation of Missouri tourist accused of burning businesses in Puerto Rico

Federal authorities executed a search warrant in St. Louis on Tuesday as part of an investigation in Puerto Rico into a tourist accused of burning down businesses last week.

The St. Louis Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is helping authorities in the U.S. territory with an arson investigation, but no arrests have been made, the spokeswoman said. Lisa Storey speaks to NBC News.

Authorities in Puerto Rico said they were close to charging a suspect in the incident in which security cameras captured a tourist suspected of starting the fire, the largest newspaper reported Tuesday from Puerto Rico, El Nuevo Día. Charges could be filed as soon as this week or next week, Lt. Miguel Rivera Sepúlveda of the Mayagüez police explosives division told the newspaper.

Videos and photos of the incident went viral on social media and sparked outrage among Puerto Ricans on the island and on the U.S. mainland.

The incident took place Thursday morning in the small coastal town of Cabo Rojo, in the southwest of the island. The woman, whom NBC News is not naming because she was not charged or named in the ATF investigation, left Puerto Rico and was back on the mainland, authorities on the island said .

“I wish they could have arrested him yesterday,” said Cabo Rojo Mayor Jorge Morales Wiscovitch. “She must be repatriated immediately and appear before the country’s justice system. It wasn’t just businesses that were burned down. There were rooms on the second floor where people slept. People could have been burned and killed.

Morales said the suspect was a tourist who was at one of the businesses, the restaurant, and was harassing people. Police twice escorted her to the nearby Airbnb property where she was staying. Later that night, after businesses had closed and everyone had returned home, reports of a fire began to emerge.

Morales said security video from one of the businesses allowed investigators to identify the suspect as the tourist who had harassed people earlier in the night. She then left in a white car that came to pick her up, Morales said.

Bar Marea restaurant said on Facebook on Thursday that the tourist arrived late at night and appeared to be intoxicated and “started insulting other customers and even assaulted a woman and one of the waiters.” Bar Marea did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After the businesses closed, the woman returned with gasoline, spread it around the area and set it on fire, according to the post.

Affected businesses include Luichy’s Seaside Hotel, Marinera Restaurant, Artesanías Juavia and Bar Marea Restaurant, which rent space in the hotel building.

Around fifty people who were staying there were evacuated, the restaurant’s message indicates.

The hotel’s owner, Ángel Luis Marrero, said in an interview with El Nuevo Día on Sunday that the fire caused an estimated $500,000 in damage and affected the livelihoods of 15 employees.

The suspect’s employer, St. Louis-based HLK Agency, said in a statement on Instagram that it immediately suspended the employee pending further information.

“We were shocked to learn of the events in Puerto Rico. We have not yet been contacted by law enforcement in Puerto Rico or Missouri, but we are prepared to cooperate with their investigation if requested,” the statement said.

A Cabo Rojo police representative told NBC News that “we are taking the necessary measures. A comprehensive investigation is underway. I cannot give more information because I would contaminate the investigation.