Marcos Perez: 2 dead and 5 injured as Mississippi man sets himself and his 7 housemates on fire
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI: A Mississippi man who allegedly set several people, including himself, on fire inside a home killed two people and injured five others. Marcos Uriel Lara Perez, 31, has been charged with multiple felonies, including three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of capital murder, according to authorities.
In a press release issued by the Byram Police Department, fire department personnel and police officers responded to a call on Easter Sunday, April 9 at 7 pm about a structure fire at a residence located in the 700 block of Gary Drive. During the firefighter's attempt to extinguish the flame, they found the body of Filliberto Torres, 77, inside the home, reported Law and Crime.
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Perez 'intentionally set' the fire
Responding officers immediately found all the individuals outside the residence who were rushed to the hospital after they suffered severe burns in the fire while one of them had non-life threatening wounds.
A 45-year-old man named Hose Thomas Segura who required specialized treatment was airlifted from the residence to a trauma center where he succumbed to his injuries two days after the horrifying incident. As of Friday morning, April 21, three of the injured victims remain in the hospital.
The District Fire Marshall and Byram Police Department's joint investigation into the case determined that Perez "intentionally set" the fire. According to the investigators, the suspect allegedly "threw a bucket of gasoline on all the victims in the kitchen area of the residence, then ignited the fire using a BIC cigarette lighter, thus causing the structure to completely engulf in flames."
Perez also suffered severe injuries in the blaze
The fire was intentionally set by Perez after he and the victims who lived at the residence got into an argument which later turned into a tragedy that killed two. The reason behind the argument remains unclear.
Police said that the suspect also suffered severe injuries in the fire. Perez, who was shifted to a hospital in Alabama remained unconscious as of Thursday, April 19, according to Byram Police Chief David Errington. The chief called the incident the "worst traumatic event he’d seen aside from a car wreck" and described the scene of the blaze as "honestly horrifying," reported Jackson NBC affiliate WLBT.