JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WSVN) — A North Florida business is still standing after a man doused it with gasoline. The suspect was threatening to burn the place down, but a good Samaritan put a stop to that.

A normal day at the Jug Saloon in Jacksonville quickly turned into a very scary one.

“He’s a regular, and he said, ‘I’m going to burn the place down,’ and then he attempted to burn the place down,” said Kenneth Gray, the bar’s owner.

Gray said the suspect goes to the bar almost every day. But on Wednesday, he brought problems: two large jugs of gasoline.

At around 4 p.m., surveillance video showed him arguing with someone in the back of the business, and then he was seen walking inside.

Gray said the man was ready to start a fire.

“She told me that one of the customers that come in with a couple of gallons of gas in each hand and was dousing it around and was saying he was going to burn the place down,” he said.

The suspect was seen pouring the gas inside the building.

“I’m concerned, not only for the bar, but for his well-being with him being in that mental state,” said Gray.

In the video, there’s a moment when everyone realized the suspect had doused the place with fuel.

But soon after, a good Samaritan took action and tackled him.

Gray says the suspect’s behavior seemed to come out of nowhere.

“I would have never thought in a million years that he would do something like this. Shocked,” said Gray.

The suspect then ran into the woods. Police looked for him with a chopper and a K-9 unit.

“We’re going to make sure that he don’t come in again,” said Gray. “We’re going to have that fixed, but we won’t have him come in, running around with gasoline, trying to burn the place down.”

Gray said that after hours of searching, the suspect was arrested.

According to police, the state fire marshal continues to investigate.

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