Police said several blazes were intentionally set inside the shopping center, forcing an evacuation and a daylong closure.
ONTARIO, CA — A 28-year-old man was arrested Friday after police said he intentionally set multiple fires inside Ontario Mills, prompting an evacuation, a sweep by explosive-detection dogs and the closure of one of the Inland Empire’s busiest malls.
Authorities said the fires were reported around 10:30 a.m. on April 10, and responding officers and firefighters quickly moved shoppers and workers out while crews put out flames in several locations. The suspect, identified by police as Luis Javier Gallegos Jr. of Rancho Cucamonga, was booked on an arson-related felony after being treated at a hospital. Investigators said no members of the public were reported hurt, but one officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the arrest. By Friday night, officials were still trying to determine a motive and whether the case had any tie to another major arson investigation in Ontario earlier in the week.
The first calls to dispatch described a man inside the mall carrying a lighter and a backpack while fires were being set, according to the Ontario Police Department. Police and the Ontario Fire Department reached the shopping center at about 10:30 a.m. and began tracking the reports as smoke spread through part of the complex. Officers soon found Gallegos inside one of the stores, police said, but said he did not comply with commands, leading to what the department described as a use-of-force encounter while officers tried to take him into custody. At the same time, firefighters worked on several blazes in the same general area of the mall. Ontario Fire Battalion Chief Scot Roeber said first crews found “multiple fires in multiple locations in the same vicinity,” and he said all of them were considered suspicious. By about noon, the fires had been extinguished, but the response did not end there. Because the suspect was reported to have a backpack, authorities called in explosive-detection K-9 teams to search the interior and exterior of the mall before declaring the property safe.
Police later identified the suspect as Luis Javier Gallegos Jr., 28, a resident of Rancho Cucamonga. After his arrest, he was taken to a local hospital for treatment and then booked into the West Valley Detention Center on an arson-related felony, authorities said. Officials did not immediately say whether prosecutors had filed a formal complaint Friday evening, and court records detailing any initial appearance were not yet publicly outlined in the information released by the city. The exact number of fires, the amount of damage and a full list of affected businesses also had not been released. Video from the scene showed flames and smoke inside a True Religion store, but police said the fires were reported across several stores in the same area. Authorities also said there was no active threat after the mall was cleared. For shoppers and employees, that meant an abrupt stop to an ordinary Friday morning at a retail center known for heavy foot traffic, outlet shopping and tourist visits from across the region.
The closure carried wider weight because Ontario Mills is one of the best-known retail destinations in San Bernardino County, drawing local families, travelers and workers from throughout the Inland Empire and greater Los Angeles region. A fire inside one store would have been disruptive on its own, but reports of blazes in multiple locations raised immediate concerns about whether the danger was still moving through the building. That concern helps explain why police shut the mall down, evacuated people quickly and requested specialized K-9 teams before reopening was even considered. The case also landed only three days after another high-profile fire in Ontario, a massive April 7 warehouse blaze at a Kimberly-Clark facility that triggered its own arson case. Investigators said Friday they were examining whether there could be any connection between the two incidents, but they stressed that none had been established. That left two separate facts standing side by side by the end of the day: a mall fire case that led to an arrest, and a still-unanswered question about whether the latest scare was part of a broader pattern or an isolated act.
For now, the legal picture remains limited but serious. Police said Gallegos was arrested on an arson-related felony, which means the case is moving beyond a simple detention and into the charging process handled by prosecutors. Officials had not publicly described additional counts Friday night, and they had not said whether surveillance video, witness statements or recovered physical evidence would shape any expanded filing. Investigators were also still asking whether anyone was injured by smoke, panic or the evacuation itself, suggesting victim information could continue to develop after the initial emergency response. Detectives said they were working to identify a motive and review whether the suspect had any link to the April 7 warehouse fire, another step that could affect how the case is framed in court if a connection is ever supported by evidence. The next milestones are likely to come through a formal charging decision, a jail or court appearance, and any new briefing from Ontario police or prosecutors as they sort out how many separate fire scenes are part of the same case.
Outside the mall, the scene mixed routine police work with the visible strain of a large public disruption. Patrol vehicles, fire apparatus and investigators remained around the property as crews checked stores and common areas. News video showed smoke inside a retail space and officers escorting a man away in handcuffs as shoppers stood outside the perimeter. Roeber’s description of the discovery captured the scale of the concern: firefighters were not dealing with one accidental flare-up but several suspicious blazes in nearby locations. Detective Eliseo Guerrero said at a news briefing that officers assigned to the mall “quickly located a male in one of the stores,” framing the arrest as a fast-moving response inside a crowded commercial setting. Officials repeatedly said there was no active threat by the afternoon, but they also made clear the closure would remain in place until investigators were done. That left store workers waiting for answers about damage, shoppers turned away before the weekend rush, and detectives still piecing together why the fires were set in the first place.
By late Friday, the fires were out, the suspect was in custody and Ontario Mills remained closed until further notice as investigators worked to determine motive, measure damage and decide whether any further charges or public updates would follow in the coming days.
Author note: Last updated April 10, 2026.