The motive for setting the blaze, O’Connor told reporters, was that the Wise brothers didn’t want a cop living near their “trap house.”

“Anyone that messes with an Atlanta police officer or a member of any portion of our team, there will be a reckoning for that and that reckoning just occurred,” O’Connor said. “We never stopped working on this case.”

Police have also linked the brothers to a January fire at another neighbor’s home on Betsy Avenue, O’Connor said. That neighbor was not an officer, but police believe the brothers had an issue with the woman who lived there, he said.

“These two brothers basically ran the entire street,” O’Connor said, adding the two had a sizable drug operation. “People were afraid to tell on them.”

Authorities caught a break in the case when they were flooded with anonymous tips last month after increasing the reward for information in both arson cases to $23,000.

MORE: Reward increased for info leading to arsonists who targeted Atlanta cop's home

Though the Wise brothers aren’t accused of setting the fires themselves, they’re charged with first-degree arson for allegedly paying others to do it.

“There was a crackhead that was basically paid with $100 of crack and $50 cash and he agreed, in the officer’s home, to throw a Molotov cocktail through the window,” O’Connor said.

Atlanta firefighters said they home would have been destroyed if they hadn’t extinguished the blaze before it spread to other rooms.

Wesley Wise was arrested during a narcotics raid, which led to the seizure of 150 grams of crack, police said.

“Because we were over there investigating these arsons, we figured out what the motive was behind them and then we developed information about how that house was being run,” O’Connor said. “With that information we were able to conduct a search warrant and then we kind of got lucky that Wesley was there.”

Both Wesley and Quinton Wise remain at the Fulton County Jail without bond, records show. Police said they have also identified the person who allegedly set the fire, but authorities have not released the suspect’s name because an arrest has not been made.

— Please return to AJC.com for updates.

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