WEDNESDAY UPDATE: An arrest has been made in the case of a tiki hut fire outside a Hillsborough County liquor store.
Austin Lee Hershey, 23, is charged with arson first-degree structure.
Surveillance video captured the Monday incident in which the fire was started.
Hershey has been placed behind bars.
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HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Investigators are looking for a man who could be seen on surveillance tape setting fire to a tiki hut outside a bar in Hillsborough County.
- Fire set to tiki hut outside PJ's Liquors
- Flames were put out in about 10 minutes
- Video catches images of person believed to be responsible
In the video, released exclusively to Spectrum Bay News 9, a man could be seen crossing the street and searching for a cigarette butt outside PJ's Liquors near the intersection of Dale Mabry and Humphrey.
The man then walks to the hut and sets it on fire.
"I was going to open this and do different things, and now I'm set back again and I got to (spend) more money out of my pocket," said Pete Palori, the owner of PJ's Liquors and Pete's Place North.
Palori, whose family owned the business for years, received a call from an employee minutes after the hut was set on fire. It was built just a few months ago and he isn't sure whether it was included in his insurance plan.
"I have employees and a family and trying to do the right thing, and somebody comes along and says, 'Hey I'm going to screw up your life today because I'm bored,'" he said.
Firefighters quickly responded to the scene and knocked down the flames within 10 minutes of arrival. Palori hopes the release of the video and the investigation leads to an arrest.
"It's ridiculous that people just go around and do whatever they want nowadays, and I want him caught and I want this stopped," he said.