Security guard arrested for allegedly setting fire to structure with homeless man inside

By Mike Hazlip—
Citrus Heights police arrested a 29-year-old security guard early Friday morning after he allegedly set fire to a dumpster enclosure with a homeless man inside.

Citrus Heights Police Sgt. Shaun Gualco told The Sentinel in a phone call Friday that police responded to the scene just before 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 20, and took 29-year-old Tyrone Reed into custody. Reed was in uniform, Gualco said.

Sacramento County jail records show Reed was booked just before 8 a.m. on charges of arson of an inhabited structure or property and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury. Two additional charges of bringing forbidden items into a California medical facility and bringing unauthorized drugs into prison are also listed on Reed’s records. Bail is set at $150,000.

Renado McGlown, who is homeless, told The Sentinel he was inside the enclosure with his belongings in the parking lot of a medical complex at Greenback Lane and Matheny Way when a security guard poured a liquid onto his plastic tarp and set it on fire.

“He came in his car when I was inside,” McGlown said. “And I was silent. I thought he was just doing his normal patrol. And he didn’t. He got out really quick. He was pressing down on the plastic on top. And then I saw him pouring liquid down, like, you know, on the outside, it was seeping in. And I said, ‘Hey, what the hell are you doing?’”

McGlown said he ran out of the enclosure and threw an aluminum baseball bat at the security guard’s vehicle, smashing the back window, then called 911. The security guard left the scene, he said, returning about 30 minutes later after authorities arrived.

This is not the first encounter McGlown has had with Reed, he says, with the security guard repeatedly telling McGlown to leave the property. McGlown has been homeless for more than two years, he said.

Gualco confirmed police have had about five recorded interactions with McGlown involving camping and loitering since 2020.

The Sentinel was not able to confirm the name of the security guard company hired to patrol the property by press time.

McGlown says he feels the act was targeted.

“I came really close to getting burned,” McGlown said. “And I know if I would have been laying down or something like that, he would have lit it anyways. And I probably wouldn’t be standing here to talk to you right now.”