A man attempted to set fire to Riley’s Tavern in New Braunfels on the morning of Sept. 20, according the Comal County Fire Department. Security cameras show that at approximately 4:20 a.m., a man in a white sedan drove up to Riley’s Tavern, doused a side wall with what appeared to be an accelerant and then threw a burning item to set the left corner wall ablaze.
As of the Daily Record’s time of press, the perpetrator has not been caught. Only superficial damage was done and the fire quickly died out after burning off the accelerant. The owners are encouraging anyone with leads to call the Comal County Crime Stoppers tip line at 830630-8477 or online at comalcrimestoppers.org.
“This isn’t the kind of thing we allow,” said Riley’s owner Joel Hofmann. “Our crowd is family, and people rely on us for a place to socialize. Plus we have a lot of tourism, because we’re a state and national landmark. We have music five nights a week. It’s just this is not something that we were expecting to have to deal with.”
