DETROIT – Detroit police say arson is to blame for a fire early Friday morning that forced motel guests out into the cold.
Between 30 and 40 people were evacuated from Victory Inn and Suites on the city's west side when part of the motel caught fire around 3 a.m.
No one was hurt, and the guests are in the process of being put up in other shelters.
Police on the scene said they are looking for a 35-year-old man who is suspected of starting the fire in one of the motel rooms as part of an argument involving a cellphone.
Police said the man allegedly sold a woman who lived at the motel the phone, but later wanted it back. When he went to get it, the woman refused, and the man smashed in her room window, police said.
The man then allegedly set a pile of the woman's clothes on fire inside her room, police said.
The fire spread to about half of the motel.