A man who set a fire at the entrance of Neighbours Nightclub on Capitol Hill last November has been sentenced to 12 months in custody, a punishment handed down alongside a judge's order that he undergo mental health evaluation and treatment after his release. David Tait Jr. pleaded guilty to second-degree arson for the November 2, 2025 blaze, which triggered the historic LGBTQ+ venue's fire alarms and came just days after he had been released from jail with an active warrant still hanging over him from a separate apartment fire.
According to KOMO News, surveillance video showed a man in a hoodie approaching the nightclub entrance and lighting a fire in an alcove before Neighbours employees called 911. Seattle police responded to the club around 10:15 p.m. and, roughly 30 minutes later, detained Tait on 11th Avenue after a bystander reported someone had just lit a fire under a pickup truck, according to Capitol Hill Seattle. Police said they found a lighter in Tait's possession along with a large can of butane in his pants pocket.
A Warrant Issued Just Days Before the Nightclub Fire
The nightclub fire did not happen in isolation. Court records show Tait had faced arson and reckless-burning charges for years, and prosecutors had charged him on October 30, 2025, with first-degree reckless burning tied to an October 24 fire at his unit inside Pitts Campbell Apartments. Because Tait had already been released from jail on October 29, before those charges were formally filed, an arrest warrant went out — leaving him free on the streets when the Neighbours fire happened just days later, per the same Capitol Hill Seattle account.
Seattle fire investigators identified two intentionally set fires inside Tait's unit at the supportive housing complex, one burning a pile of laundry and a second burning a mattress, causing extensive damage before firefighters extinguished the blaze and kept it from spreading through the rest of the building. Fire crews located a butane torch inside the apartment. Facility staff told investigators Tait had a history of starting fires in his unit, according to the arrest report cited by the station's report, and residents said they saw him run away after the fire before he returned to the building the next day, when police detained him after he matched a suspect description.
Supportive Housing Complex Has Seen Repeat Incidents
Pitts Campbell Apartments, officially known as Bertha Pitts Campbell Place, is a 103-unit permanent supportive housing facility in Seattle's Central District operated by Plymouth Housing for single adults exiting chronic homelessness, according to AIA Washington Council. The facility opened in 2022.
Tait's history of fire-setting during apparent psychiatric crises predates the Pitts Campbell incidents by years. In April 2019, he was arrested in Seattle's Frink Park after officers found him standing near six brush fires holding a barbecue lighter; he told police that voices had instructed him to start fires after he used methamphetamine and heroin, according to KIRO 7. That same year, King County court records identified Tait as a suspect in an arson set inside the bathroom of Corvus and Co., a Capitol Hill bar, while customers were inside.
Neighbours' Long, Painful History With Arson
The choice of Neighbours as a target carries weight in a neighborhood already familiar with attacks on the venue. Opened in 1983, Neighbours is Seattle's oldest continuously operating LGBTQ+ nightclub and a major cultural institution on Capitol Hill, per Wikipedia. On New Year's Eve 2013, Musab Mohammed Masmari poured gasoline inside the building while more than 700 patrons were inside, an attack that led to a 10-year federal prison sentence in March 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The club was targeted again in August 2015, when someone set fire to a rear door, prompting a Seattle Police Department investigation into a possible hate-crime motive and increased neighborhood patrols, as reported by KING 5.
Sentencing Falls Below the Original Charge
Tait originally faced a first-degree reckless burning charge for the apartment fire, but ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree arson. Under Washington State statute RCW 9A.48.030, second-degree arson is a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, while first-degree arson is a Class A felony carrying a maximum of life imprisonment, according to the Washington State Legislature. Standard felony sentencing guidelines put the baseline range for second-degree arson at 3 to 9 months for an offender with no prior felony record, though judges retain discretion to impose far more, per the Law Office of Steve Graham.
The judge's 12-month sentence sits above that standard baseline. Tait had already been in custody for 274 days and will receive credit for time served. The judge also ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation and treatment after his release from jail, and a restitution hearing will be determined at a later date, per KOMO's reporting.
