WINONA, Minn. – Police continued to attempt to locate a woman who was suspected of starting a fire out of anger Wednesday at the Family and Children’s Center on Franklin Street. The place was evacuated. No one was hurt. The woman stormed out as smoke began billowing from a central bathroom. She broke a mirror off a car parked outside and kept on going. She was last seen on foot eight blocks away on Third Street. At the Center, employees said they were familiar with the woman. So were police. Officers reported talking with her about a half hour prior to the fire. Although the woman seemed possibly under the influence of a controlled substance, the officers reported also feeling that she was able to care for herself. Also she declined assistance. In the incident itself, inside the Center, a bathroom toilet seat was ripped loose and swung to hammer gaping holes the bathroom wall in three different places. Then toilet paper was set afire.
