BATON ROUGE - Police arrested Justin James Richard, 31 years old, in the early hours of the morning after he allegedly set fire to a woman's car following an argument during which he threatened her with a handgun.

Baton Rouge Fire Department was called to 500 W. Garfield Avenue to investigate a vehicle fire on Tuesday, June 25th. The fire, which caused approximately $3,000 worth of damage, was determined to be arson. During the course of their investigation, officials found that Justin James Richard had sent the owner of the car, a woman he claims was "his girl", a series of threatening text messages.

Richard confessed to confronting the car's owner and a male friend at her residence. An argument ensued and Richard pointed a 9mm handgun at the pair, threatened to shoot them, and fired the gun into the air. He claimed that he did not want to harm anyone.

Richard also confessed to returning to the residence a short time later and setting the car on fire by pouring gasoline around it and lighting it with a cigarette lighter. He claimed that he did not think that the vehicle would catch fire.

Richard is facing charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and aggravated arson.