Arrest made in connection with Federal Hill restaurant dumpster fire, Baltimore police said

A Baltimore woman was arrested Friday in connection with a dumpster fire Monday behind Papi Cuisine, a restaurant in Federal Hill.

Investigators say 47-year-old Sheena Herring of Baltimore is responsible for starting the fire, according to a news release from the Baltimore Police Department.

Herring was charged with two felonies – second-degree arson and first-degree malicious burning – as well as dumpster arson. She is being held without bail, according to electronic court records.

At 9:17 a.m. Monday, police and firefighters responded to the restaurant on East Wells Street and extinguished the fire, which caused minor damage but no injuries. The city’s arson squad was investigating the fire, police said.

The restaurant, which serves Afro-Caribbean dishes, delayed its opening by three hours on Monday because of the fire.

In the Instagram video, one of the restaurant’s owners, Alex Perez, linked the fire to opposition from neighbors who made a failed attempt last month to encourage the city’s Board of Liquor License Commissioners to deny the restaurant’s liquor license extend.

The board last month renewed Papi Cuisine’s liquor license after protests from about 10 neighbors who filed complaints about double-parked cars, trash, public drunkenness, drag racing and fights outside the restaurant. The restaurant’s owners have denied that the business and its customers were involved in these riots.