Nine months after a pre-dawn fire killed two workers at a Redwood City liquor store, police say the manager set it himself with gasoline — then offer no reason why, in a finding that leaves the case both closed and unresolved.

Redwood City police have closed their investigation into the Nov. 3, 2025, fire at Avenue Liquors, concluding that manager Benigno "Benny" Nuguid Pare set it with gasoline, killing himself and co-worker Anil Kumar Sharma. Nine months on, the department has offered no motive, leaving the neighbors who knew Pare as a devout father days from flying home to reconcile the finding with the man they mourned.

In a news release reported Aug. 13 (external source, opens in a new tab), the Redwood City Police Department said investigators believe longtime manager Benigno "Benny" Nuguid Pare intentionally ignited gasoline inside the store at 2147 Roosevelt Ave. before the blaze that killed him and co-worker Anil Kumar Sharma. The department has not provided a motive. Multiple outlets, including KRON4 (external source, opens in a new tab) and NBC Bay Area (external source, opens in a new tab), characterized the finding as an apparent murder-suicide.

The fire was reported before dawn on Nov. 3, 2025, with police and fire crews reaching the strip-mall shop around 5:30 a.m. to find it fully ablaze. They cut through the roof and found two bodies inside, both burned severely, the Redwood City Pulse reported (external source, opens in a new tab) from the police account. Sharma's body was at the back of the store, near where investigators would later say the gasoline had been used, according to The Almanac.

The department paired its conclusion with a few of the physical details behind it. Both of Pare's wrists were bound by a chain and a lock, police said — one wrist drawn tight, the other, a later examination found, left slack. Neither exit could be worked from outside; both had been fastened from within, and police said they turned up no indication a second person was there. Some material is still being reviewed, investigators said, but they do not expect it to shift their conclusions.

What the release does not explain is a motive — why a man described by those who knew him as gentle and devout would do this — nor does it publicly account for the chain locked around both of Pare's wrists.

The people who mourned Pare knew a different man than the one in the police account. He worked something like 80 hours a week and, neighbors believed, slept in the shop, according to attendees at a November vigil covered by The Almanac (external source, opens in a new tab), part of the nonprofit Embarcadero Media group. By their telling, some 15 years behind the counter had finally put enough aside for Pare to rejoin his wife and four children in the Philippines that coming month — a homecoming a daughter fresh out of nursing school was waiting on. Sharma, from India, left a wife and two children.

Roughly 40 people filled Red Morton Park on Nov. 14, 2025, for a service honoring both men. It was led by Mark Tumney, a pastor at Peninsula Covenant Church, who told those gathered that Pare "knew Jesus," invoked a faith that "walks with the broken hearted," and remembered the Christian music that played in the shop, per The Almanac's account. A mother at the vigil, the outlet reported, said she had loved him more than almost anyone.

Avenue Liquors has stood shuttered since the fire, its facade barely charred, with memorials and posters for the two men out front, according to the Redwood City Pulse (external source, opens in a new tab). In its first statement last November, police said they could not yet tell whether the two had been living inside, or account for their pre-dawn presence — questions the arson finding still leaves unanswered.

The case remains active as evidence is examined. Anyone with information is asked to contact Redwood City police at (650) 780-7100.