As the hooded figure fled, someone else ran up and pulled away the burning blanket.

There was a moan.

It was only then that the man in his condo realized what he had just witnessed: a human being set ablaze.

“I can’t get it out of my mind — seeing that guy light that other guy on fire,” the man, who asked to remain anonymous, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

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Few in San Diego have been able to forget about the Wednesday attack.

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Its victim, 23-year-old Dionicio Derek Vahidy, died four days later. The attack was the fourth on a homeless person in San Diego in as many days, three of them deadly.

Two of the victims were set on fire. In the first attack, on July 3, Angelo De Nardo, 53, was found burning beneath an interstate bridge. Witnesses said they saw a man running across the freeway, carrying a gas can.

The horrific nature of the killings is only one reason why they have so gripped San Diego, a place normally so pleasant that its nickname is “America’s Finest City.”

The other reason is that the crimes are very much unsolved.

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On Monday, authorities released from jail the sole suspect in the serial killings.

Anthony Padgett was arrested Thursday on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and arson. Padgett, 36, had been convicted in 2010 of similarly setting fire to a homeless man in nearby Chula Vista, the Los Angeles Times reported. He also closely resembled a man captured on surveillance camera footage who police think is responsible for all four attacks. But he told reporters from the back of a police car that he was innocent.

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On Monday, police said they did not have enough evidence to prosecute Padgett, although they did not rule him out, either.

“I could not risk not taking him into custody and leaving him out in the community,” Capt. David Nisleit said Monday at a news conference, according to the Associated Press.

“God forbid he murders another person,” Nisleit said of the killer still at large. “This was done with the utmost priority on keeping the public safe, and I believe it was the right decision.”

“At this point in the investigation, we have exhausted all of the evidence,” he said, adding that there was nothing to suggest Padgett was involved in the killings. “With that said, in an hour or tomorrow, we could get new evidence that might point the finger back to Padgett or to someone new.”

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The release of the only suspect just days after his arrest set heads spinning in San Diego.

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“Everybody’s back to where we were last week,” Bob McElroy, an advocate for the homeless, told ABC10. “Everybody is living in fear, distrust, keeping an eye on everybody. We’re creeped out because somebody is targeting our population.”

Homelessness has emerged as a contentious issue lately in cities along the West coast. Seattle and San Francisco have been rocked by high-profile killings allegedly committed by homeless suspects.

In a Seattle homeless camp known as the Jungle, three teenage boys allegedly shot five people, killing two, in February over a drug debt.

In San Francisco, three young “drifters” are accused of killing a Canadian traveler and a yoga instructor in October. In May, a homeless man was found floating in a pond in Golden Gate Park. Two homeless men were charged with murder.

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And in Los Angeles, where the homeless population now stands at 27,000, and police shootings of homeless people have made headlines, the city council recently voted to put a $1.2 billion bond measure to raise money to fight homelessness on the November ballot.

Thanks to its coastline, palm trees, mild climate and what critics claim has been a slow response to the problem, San Diego now also has one of the largest homeless communities in the country.

Last year, the city’s homeless population rose 2.8 percent to 8,742, placing it in the top four for the first time behind only Seattle, Los Angeles and New York City, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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Nearly half of its homeless sleep on the streets, where they are especially vulnerable.

San Diego sits in the shadow of a massive U.S. naval base. The city’s motto is Semper Vigilans, Latin for “Ever Vigilant.”

Yet three of the four homeless victims were attacked while sleeping in the open, authorities said.

The attacks began July 3, when Angelo De Nardo was found ablaze under the Interstate 5 bridge in Bay Park about 8 a.m. An autopsy showed that the 53-year-old had suffered extensive injuries to his upper torso before being set on fire.

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Less than 24 hours later, two more homeless men were attacked. Manuel Nunez Mason, 61, was critically injured in the Midway District, about three miles from Bay Park. Less than two hours later, Shawn Mitchell Longley, 41, was found dead in nearby Ocean Beach. Both also suffered upper torso injuries.

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Then, on Wednesday morning about 5 a.m., Dionicio Vahidy was struck in the upper torso, doused with flammable liquid and set on fire in downtown San Diego.

“He didn’t try and stop the man from putting him on fire, so he must have been unconscious,” the man who witnessed the attack told the Union-Tribune.

Police and politicians said they were doing everything they could to catch the man think is responsible for all four attacks.

“These evil acts of violence are some of the worst I’ve seen in my 34 years in law enforcement,” Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said during a news conference.

“Our city has been shaken by these gruesome attacks,” Mayor Kevin Faulconer said. “The last few days have been particularly harrowing and emotional for those who struggle with homelessness.”

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“I want to make it very clear that the San Diego Police Department is working around the clock to find this killer and bring justice for these victims,” he added. “All resources are being brought to bear to catch this individual.”

Police released surveillance video footage showing a white man in a beige coat and a green hat buying a gas can near and shortly before the first killing.

A day later, police arrested Padgett, who had been convicted by a jury in 2010 of setting a fellow homeless person on fire, causing burns to about 30 percent of his body.

According to the AP, Padgett blamed the incident on drugs, in a three-page handwritten letter to the judge, saying he was “super stoned and intoxicated plus using my prescribed medications” — and that he intended only to scare the victim, who was a friend.

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As he was being taken away Thursday, Padgett said it was a case of mistaken identity.

“I look like that person,” he told ABC10. “I’m innocent.”

On Monday, authorities appeared to agree, releasing Padgett and saying they were back to Square 1.

The news tore open a wound that had just been sutured shut.

San Diego’s homeless and homeless advocates were both devastated by the news that a serial killer was still on the loose.

“It’s gut-wrenching for the homeless community and for folks who try to help people experiencing homelessness, and I’m sure it’s gut-wrenching for our police department, too,” Michael McConnell, an advocate for the homeless, told ABC10.

“Oh, great. Now we get to put our guard back up again,” Tim Jones, who sleeps near City Hall, told the AP.

“We kind of sleep with one eye open,” added fellow homeless person Jesse Brashier, 53. “This makes us more cautious. “If he’s still out there, he can take anybody.”