An 81-year-old Wheat Ridge man says he believes his RV was torched Thursday night in retaliation for his shooting a thief in February in a high-profile incident.
“It’s got me pretty shook up,” said Robert Joseph Wallace of Wheat Ridge. “Next time it might be the house or me.”
Wallace entered a no-contest plea last month to reduced charges of attempted reckless manslaughter and illegal discharge of a firearm into an occupied motor vehicle for shooting at a truck carrying two fleeing theft suspects. He was sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation.
“It’s pretty obvious that someone climbed up the ladder to the top of the mobile home, opened a vent and poured gasoline inside,” Wallace said. “It’s a total loss.”
Lisa Stigall, Wheat Ridge police spokeswoman, said it has not been determined whether this was arson.
But Wallace said it’s apparent to him that someone burned the RV to take revenge for the Feb. 24 shooting incident. In that case, Wallace fired a shot at a pickup that was driving away pulling his flatbed trailer. Alvaro Cardona, 28, was struck in the face.
Kirk Mitchell, The Denver Post
