Update 5/19/20: An arrest has been made in the alleged homicide, D.C. police said on Tuesday. An MPD spokesperson declined to share any more information about the man’s identity or the charges he faces. FOX 5 was first to report the news.
Update 5/18/20: One of the men set on fire has died from his injuries, D.C. police announced on Sunday. The man, whose name was Darryl Finney, died on Friday, May 15 after being transported to the hospital. He was 62 years old. Police are now investigating the crime as a homicide, and are offering a $25,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the suspect’s arrest and conviction.
Original:
D.C. police are looking for a man suspected of setting a man experiencing homelessness on fire on H Street NE early Wednesday morning, according to NBC Washington.
Around 1:11 a.m., police were called to the 900 block of H Street NE, where they found the victim with burns to his lower extremities, the outlet reports. He lost his belongings during the attack and was taken to a hospital.
The Metropolitan Police Department told NBC that the suspect originally threw a shirt covered in flammable liquid at a different man half an hour earlier on the 1300 block of H Street NE. This other man is said to have escaped uninjured and to have spoken with police, describing the suspect as roughly 5 feet 5 inches tall, 150 pounds, and outfitted with a black hat, a tan coat, and blue jeans.
In an email, a spokesperson for MPD says the cases remain under investigation.
The victim who was taken to the hospital couldn’t describe the suspect, per NBC, but an MPD lieutenant noted that “due to similarities between the two incidents, they are considered to be related.” The suspect is believed to have lit a car on fire on the 1300 block of Florida Avenue NE and to have set a fire on a front porch on the 1400 block of Morse Street NE shortly after the alleged attacks.
Police are encouraging anyone with information to call their arson tip line at 202-673-2776 or MPD’s command information Center at 202-727-9099.
