Two men accused of setting fire to SUV in Aurora

Aurora police on Monday arrested two men and charged them with setting fire to a vehicle on the city's near west side earlier that morning.

Mario Palacios, 18, of the 1000 block of 2nd Avenue in Aurora, and 20-year-old Xavier Bijarro, of the 300 block of Harmony Drive in North Aurora, were taken into custody after a vehicle fire on Michigan Avenue, according to Paris Lewbel, a spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department. Both men are charged with felony counts of arson.

Just after 1 a.m. Monday, a homeowner called 911 and reported that her SUV vehicle was on fire in her driveway. Officers on the scene reviewed surveillance video from exterior cameras on the property and it showed two suspects setting the fire to the SUV.

Meanwhile, an investigator with Aurora Police's Special Operations Group performed a traffic stop near Galena Boulevard and Union Street. When the investigator approached the vehicle, the interior smelled like gasoline, and one of the two men inside matched the description of one of the suspects in the surveillance video.