Court records in the felony case against the man accused of torching Berkeley's municipal animal shelter show that his own dog had been taken by police and placed inside the facility just over 24 hours before the blaze — the clearest picture yet of what may have driven the attack.

The Alameda County District Attorney's Office charged Peter Taraba, 48, with felony arson and burglary and misdemeanor vandalism for the June 6 fire at Berkeley Animal Care Services on Bolivar Drive, according to court records reviewed by Berkeleyside. Combined with a separate misdemeanor assault charge stemming from an alleged attack on staff at a downtown homeless shelter, the charging documents draw a picture of a man with a pattern of alleged violence toward the city's social-service institutions — and a possible personal grievance at the heart of the shelter fire.

On the morning of June 5, Berkeley police arrested Taraba on suspicion of vandalism. As a direct consequence of that arrest, his dog was taken and placed in the city shelter on Bolivar Drive, according to a Berkeley Police Department statement filed in Taraba's arson case, as reported by Berkeleyside. No charges were filed in connection with the June 5 arrest, court records show.

Less than 36 hours later, surveillance cameras captured Taraba on shelter property. Over the course of that evening, according to BPD, cameras recorded him jumping over secured exterior gates and throwing rocks at windows. The cameras then caught Taraba approaching the area where the fire was later started, carrying something in his hands — and walking away empty-handed as the fire grew behind him.

Firefighters responded to the shelter around 10 p.m. on June 6. Investigators called it suspicious from the start after finding a broken window. The fire burned through a cache of donated pet supplies stacked under a stairway in the lobby. It caused no structural damage, but smoke penetrated staff areas and knocked out a sprinkler system — a loss that created a potential hazard for the animals housed there. They were ultimately relocated to foster homes and partner shelters across the region.

Dog beds, blankets, food bags, leashes, and other donated goods were destroyed or left unusable from smoke damage, Berkeleyside reported.

Police also believe Taraba returned early on June 11, five days after the fire, and flooded the building using an exterior faucet. Officers spotted him downtown later that morning and arrested him. As of last Wednesday, he had not been charged in connection with that flooding incident.

The shelter case is not Taraba's only pending legal matter. He also faces a misdemeanor assault charge after allegedly slapping two staffers at a downtown Berkeley homeless shelter, according to a police statement in that case. Only one of the two employees chose to pursue charges.

The shelter has remained closed since the fire, but city officials say they are targeting a public reopening in roughly two weeks. "Absent any unforeseen process delays, BACS anticipates being back open to the public and resuming normal operations by July 6, though some repairs of the building will most likely still be underway at that time," Neighborhood Services Manager Peter Radu wrote in an email, according to Berkeleyside. Radu advised residents not to take in stray animals unless they can provide care or placement themselves, and to call ahead before bringing animals to shelters in other jurisdictions to confirm available capacity.

The Dissent covered Taraba's June 11 arrest and the initial flooding investigation in a June 12 report.