A disgruntled employee doused two women in gasoline and set them on fire outside a Detroit, Michigan workplace.
An unidentified male suspect who was ‘recently suspended or terminated’ from his job at Tompkins Products approached his former co-workers – one in 50s and one in her 60s – around 6.00am Monday.
He allegedly covered the vehicle they were sitting in with the accelerant and lit the car on fire before fleeing the scene.
Chief James White with the Detroit Police Department said the angry man targeted the women because he saw them ‘as being part of the reason he was suspended’ from the company, which is a screw machine supplier.
The female workers were taken to a nearby hospital after suffering severe burns to their face, neck, upper torso and shoulders. They are expected to survive.
The man attacked the women as they were getting out of the car they arrived in together for their shift that morning.
He then poured gasoline on the outside of the vehicle before taking a cigarette lighter to it, Dennis Richardson, Chief of the Detroit Fire Department Fire Investigation Division, said.
Richardson told WDIV it appeared the woman were ‘self-extinguished’ by the time emergency personnel responded.
Thomas Saldana, an employee who witnessed the horrid act, told WXYZ he pursued the suspect and knocked him off his bike while two other bystanders held him until police arrived minutes later.
‘I heard some ladies screaming … I seen the inside of her car was engulfed in flames,’ Saldana said.
‘Just walked up to it and lit them on fire, I heard nothing but screaming.’
Saldana said the two men who assisted him in catching the suspect ‘might’ve roughed him up a little bit’ before holding him until police arrived.
The suspect was taken to the hospital after suffering minor injuries.
He is expected to face criminal charges, including attempted murder, White said.
‘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.
The Sheriff added that the suspect ‘didn’t appear intoxicated’ at the time of the incident but has ‘very violent priors.’
‘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.
‘Multiple times he’s been arrested before. I can say that, comfortably,’ White added.
He said that this incident was ‘unfortunate’ and ‘outrageous, regardless of the conflict you’re having.’
‘To resort to this type of reaction is just horrible.’
The Detroit Police Department told DailyMail.com that ‘no further information is available at this time,’ including the identity of the suspect and victims.
DailyMail.com contacted Tompkins Products for comment.