Disgruntled employee arrested after lighting women on fire at Detroit business
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Two Detroit women and an alleged attacker are all hospitalized after authorities said the suspect doused them with gasoline and then set them on fire in a violent attack Monday morning.
According to Dennis Richardson, Chief of the Detroit Fire Department Fire Investigation Division, the attack happened just after 6 a.m. on Monday when the women arrived at their jobs at a building on W Grand Blvd.
Richardson said the women arrived and were just getting out of the car when the suspect dumped gasoline on them and set it on fire with a cigarette lighter.
"It was unnecessarily violent and vicious. I think the citizens of the city are tired of this type of action. I know I am. That's all I can say about it right now," he said.
The women were both hospitalized with serious injuries at Detroit Receiving Hospital. The suspect was also hospitalized with minor injuries.
Richardson said the women were burned on their face, neck, and shoulder areas.
Detroit Police are handling the investigation and plan to hand over the case to the prosecutor's office for possible criminal charges. Chief James White spoke Monday afternoon around 4:15 about the attack.
White said the man was an employee of the business and was either recently suspended or fired from his job. White believes the motive was that the women were partly responsible.
"He encountered two other employees that he perceived as being a part of the reason he was suspended or terminated. He took an accelerant to the vehicle that they were sitting in and poured it on the vehicle around the vehicle, lit that vehicle on fire," White said.
A witness chased after the suspect and held him down until police arrived a few minutes later.
What charges the suspect will face
White said they plan to submit paperwork to the prosecutor's office to charge the suspect with attempted murder, among other charges.
"We know that we've got an attempted murder. The investigators are working the case right now. My last briefing was that it was likely to be an attempted murder charge. But we're going to be going after some additional charges. Fire is looking at some things with some arson charges as well. But, we're going to be looking for, at the very least, an attempted murder charge," White said.
Suspect's previous criminal history
White stopped short detailing exactly what the suspect has been arrested for in the past – but said there have been previous encounters with police.
"We've had police contact with him in the past, and, for very violent acts. I don't want a taint jury pool by speaking of previous bad acts or anything like that, so we'll leave that there," he said.
When pressed for further details about other encounters with police, White refused to discuss more details, saying that he has been arrested many times.
"Multiple times. He's been arrested before. I can say that, comfortably," he said.
The suspect's name and age were not released.