(AP) — A man accused of setting several people on fire, including himself, at a Mississippi home is now facing charges of murder after two of the victims died as a result of his alleged actions, police said.
Marcos Uriel Lara Perez, 31, faces two counts of capital murder and three counts of aggravated assault, the Byram Police Department said in a news release Thursday.
“It was determined that Perez threw a bucket of gasoline on all the victims in the kitchen area of the residence, ignited the fire using a BIC cigarette lighter, thus causing the structure to completely engulf in flames,” investigators said.
Authorities said Perez was also injured in the April 9 fire at a home in Byram and is currently being treated in a burn facility in Alabama. Byram Police Chief David Errington told WLBT-TV that the suspect is currently unconscious and “could be hospitalized for a while.”
Three other victims remain hospitalized.
Filberto Meliso, 77, was killed and Hose Thomas Segura Juarez, 45, was flown to a hospital in Memphis, where he died two days later, authorities said.
Byram Police and the district fire marshal determined the fire was set intentionally after Perez argued with his housemates.
Errington described the incident as “honestly horrifying” and the “worst traumatic event he’d seen aside from a car wreck.”