The business owner whose downtown storefront was set on fire is just grateful a police officer on foot patrol got there when he did.

“Our luck was —the whole building could have went—the officer was on foot patrol and he saw smoke coming out of my office, but I’m presuming that was as the guy left,” said Astrid Schmidt, owner of Astrid’s Bookeeping on Third Avenue and Cedar Street.

The officer observed the smoke around midnight on Sept. 13. According to footage captured by Schmidt’s four surveillance cameras, the suspect came and went in three minutes, from 11:52-11:55. Police called her at 12:07 to say emergency crews were on site.

Schmidt said the suspect, whose face is obscured by a hoodie, entered through the front door.

“He had something to jimmy the lock open,” She said. Timmins

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