Molotov Cocktail Started Fire in Monterey Tattoo Shop - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

MONTEREY, Calif-  A third structure fire in Monterey as Creative Visions Tattoo and Body Piercing gets $50,000 in smoke and fire damage.  

Investigators are now saying it was most likely a Molotov cocktail that started the fire at Creative Visions Tattoo Parlor in Monterey.

The fire started around 5 AM and police believe it may have been set during a burglary. The police department originally received a call for a burglary alarm going off at 800 Lighthouse Avenue, when the arrived at the scene the place was on fire.

One of the first responding officers happened to be an arson investigator and according to her trained eye this fire appeared to be arson.

Body piercing artist Cody Vaughn learned about the fire early this morning when a friend sent him a text message.

"He said it's on the news, creative visions in on fire, so I jumped in my car and drove down here".

Several of the artists lost all of their equipment in the fire. "The tattooing, that's their source of income for them, so as far as paying rend and feeding their families, this is how everybody makes their ends meet", said Vaughn.

Fourteen firefighters, three engines, and one truck from Monterey Fire responded. Fire crews had the fire contained within the half hour.

Owner Margi Perotti doesn't understand why someone would do something like this.

She said, "Hate crimes?  Why a tattoo shop?  We see all walks of life from 16 to 80, I don't really understand".

She says authorities showed her an incendiary device found burned on the floor.

 "It was burned up, it was like a can with a rag on it".

Perotti says this hurts not only because of the damage, but because of the economy.  She's hopeful authorities will arrest who ever is responsible.

"It will come back to bite them, karma, is a big, big, thing" said Margi Perotti.

There were two other structure fires in Monterey in this past week.

Tuesday evening a fire broke out at an apartment complex on 489 Park Avenue. That blaze started in a downstairs unit and caused major damage but nobody was injured.

Early Friday morning there was fire at 411 Alvarado Street that caused an estimated $1 million in damage. That fire started in the basement of Jugem Sushi Restaurant.

Police are still investigating the cause of all three of the fires in Monterey, and at this time do not believe that the fires are connected.