A Florida teen allegedly set a house ablaze while a family of four slept inside in a plot to k!ll his friend, according to authorities.
Cops and firefighters responded to a fire at a residential home in Lehigh Acres around 6 a.m. on Jan. 3. They then discovered an open 5-gallon propane tank near the front door and a homemade Molotov cocktail on the scene, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
“Four occupants inside the home were able to escape through a window and were not injured,” police wrote.
Multiple witnesses told investigators that the suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had been parked down the street and had briefly made contact with the victims, asking them what happened before fleeing the scene, police said.
The suspect was located and arrested at his home, where he admitted to transporting the propane tank and using a gas-filled bottle to ignite the fire.
The teen also allegedly confessed to starting the fire in an attempt to k!ll an occupant inside the home, cops added. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told WINK that the target was his teenage friend.
“It was a very traumatic moment. Even now, two days later, I still can’t sleep, and neither can they because you relive everything that happened, and you’re afraid it’s going to happen again, which keeps you from sleeping,” Namiry Enrique Alvarez, the mother of the boy who was the target of the arson, told the outlet.
She recalled having to flee through the windows with her three family members as the inferno blocked the front door of her home.
Nobody was injured in the fire, Alvarez said. The motive for the alleged attempted murd£r is not immediately clear.
The 14-year-old has since been charged with four counts of attempted felony murd£r, arson, occupied burglary, making a destructive device, and possession or use of a weapon, according to authorities.
“This is a juvenile that’s committing a tremendous, horrifying act — trying to k!ll four people in a residence. It’s sad to me that things got this way, but I’m very thankful that the result is nobody’s hurt, and our suspect is off the streets and charged,” Sheriff Marceno told WINK.