Tenants link arson to fatal shooting

A Halifax business was firebombed overnight in a caseneighbourssuspect may be linked to a recent murder.

Halifax Regional Police say theFast Cashon Herring Cove Road was deliberately set on fire around 3:40 a.m. Wednesday.

"We found a couple of bottles with some fabric in them," said Stephen Nearing, a fire investigator, adding the bottles will be sent to a laboratory to see what they contain.

A woman who lives in an apartment above the business told CBC News she heard smashing glass, then saw flames.

"When I looked through my window the whole downstairs was completely orange," said the woman, who did not want to give her name because she said she fears for her safety.

She ran down the hall and alerted other tenants. Everyone escaped and no one was hurt.

The fire gutted the small storefront, leaving behind charred furniture and appliances, sagging steel racks, and a floor littered with burned debris and coins.

Several tenants said they believe the firebombing was in retaliation for the slaying of a convicted drug dealer on June 20.

Wayne Nicholas Marriott, 21, was in a car near his home in Beechville, west of Halifax, with another man, when someone shot at the car. Marriott died, but the other man survived.

Police issued an arrest warrant for James Melvin Jr. His father, Jimmy Melvin, owns the business that was burned.