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NH Men In Custody After Fitchburg Firebombing

FITCHBURG (CBS) – Fitchburg Police say surveillance video from Saturday night shows three men mixing Molotov cocktails in the back of their pickup truck.

The video was taken in the parking lot of a Route 12 convenience store. A person who saw them called 911 to report that they were pouring gasoline into bottles.

Just minutes later, two firebombs were tossed at a house on nearby Hobson Street, starting a fire by the front door and destroying the homes natural gas meter.

A mother and her toddler were home but were not hurt. She doused the flames before firefighters arrived at the scene. Not long after, police stopped a white pickup truck and arrested three men from New Hampshire, charging them with arson.

The three men arrested were 21-year-old Stephen M. Silva of Milford, N.H., 41-year-old Joseph E. Brown of Lyndeborough, N.H., and 26-year-old Kyle S. Dewispelaere of Milford, N.H.

Apparently, police are getting some cooperation from at least one suspect, but at this point the motive is puzzling to neighbors. Police are looking into a possible connection to the victim's estranged husband.

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