Do you know this man? He’s suspected of dumping gasoline on a woman and lighting her on fire
Investigators Thursday asked the public to help locate a man suspected of dousing a woman with gasoline and setting her on fire.
The incident occurred on the afternoon of June 12, when a man approached a woman in the 500 block of East Vernon Avenue and set her ablaze, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The woman remains hospitalized in critical condition.
The suspect is described as a black man with brown eyes and brown hair, and he was seen grinning in surveillance footage from a convenience store shortly before the fire was reported, according to LAFD arson investigators. He stands about 5 feet 7 and weighs about 180 pounds, and the surveillance video shows him wearing a white T-shirt, black jacket and sunglasses.
The suspect and the woman had a verbal dispute, LAFD Capt. Daniel Curry told KABC-TV Channel 7. Next, he went to the store to purchase gasoline.
“In broad daylight, this person just walks up and pours gasoline all over this person and her belongings … a very egregious crime,” Curry said.
The man is known to frequent the area near Vernon Avenue and Avalon Boulevard in the Historic South-Central neighborhood, officials said.
Anyone with information about the identity of the man is asked to contact the LAFD’s arson unit at (213) 893-9800. Those who see the man are asked to contact the LAPD’s Newton Division at (323) 846-6547.
For more news in California, follow @MattHjourno.
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