Man allegedly disabled alarm before setting fire to ex’s Spanish Town apartment building

BATON ROUGE – A man was arrested and booked on 50 counts of arson after investigators determined he intentionally set fire to an apartment complex at the edge of Baton Rouge’s historic Spanish Town district. 

The Baton Rouge Fire Department responded to a fire at Lake Tower Apartments at 999 North 9th Street on Monday. There were 50 people inside the complex at the time of the fire, and while the commotion had woken all of the occupants, investigators found the fire alarm had been intentionally disabled. 

The building did not sustain any major damage, according to the fire department.

One of the leaseholders at the complex told fire investigators she had received harassing and threatening messages from her ex-boyfriend, Ihab Mustafa, who she believed to be the arsonist. Security footage from the complex showed a man that matched the description.

It was also found that Mustafa had disabled the fire alarm.

Mustafa was arrested Tuesday and booked with 50 counts of aggravated arson and one count each of burglary, criminal damage to property, and terrorizing.