http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/13583170.htm

Man dies when he blows up home By JASON FELCH and AMANDA COVARRUBIAS Los Angeles Times

DOWNEY - An elderly man with one arm ablaze and a pistol in his other hand tried to set two neighbors' homes on fire and blew up his own home, killing himself early Sunday morning, police said.

Authorities found incendiary devices smoldering in front of two neighboring houses. The homemade firebombs were allegedly placed there by the man, whom police did not identify, before authorities arrived, Downey police said. Those bombs failed to fully ignite.

When firefighters extinguished the blaze in the suspect's house hours later, they found the man's body amid spent ammunition and several cans of flammable liquids, fire officials said.

No one else was injured in the fire, but two neighboring buildings were damaged, police and fire officials said.

Neighbors told police the incident came after repeated disputes between the man and local residents over parking on the 8000 block of Bergman Lane, a cul-de-sac.

''He had complained people were parking in front of his house,'' said Runyan, a Downey police officer who declined to give his first name, adding that neighbors described him as ''an old, grumpy guy who didn't like people playing music real loud.''

Jessica Saucedo, 18, who lives across the street from the man with her parents, said he often made racist remarks against Latinos and blacks and terrorized the neighborhood children when they would play in the street in front of his house.

''He threatened to chop off their heads with an ax,'' said Saucedo, who was awakened early Sunday morning by shouts and gunfire. ''He was just a miserable old man.''

Saucedo said she looked out her bedroom window when she woke up and saw the man standing near her front porch with a torch in his hand.

Police, called by another neighbor, arrived almost immediately after, at around 5 a.m., and confronted the man, estimated to be in his late 70s.

''He had a 9mm Beretta in one hand, and one of his arms appeared to be on fire,'' said Sgt. Ralph Romero. A second pistol was tucked in his waistband, Romero said.

The man refused police instructions to drop the weapons, turned around in the street and entered his house, which soon caught fire, officials said.

''He didn't say anything at all,'' Runyan said. ''He walked back into his house, and next thing we knew a fire started and the house was completely in flames.''

As officers evacuated the surrounding homes, explosions and gunfire could be heard from within the burning house, the statement said.

The threat of gunfire kept the Downey Fire Department from attacking the blaze immediately, said Battalion Chief Jeff Turner.

When it was finally extinguished, around 7 a.m., investigators found signs of ''lots of accelerant and several starting points'' for the fire, Turner said, indicating that the fire was intentional. They also found expended ammunition rounds both in the house and in a van parked in the driveway of the house.

Fire investigators described the two incendiary devices found in front of neighboring homes as sealed gasoline cans in metal tubs filled with diesel fuel.

''It's not something I've seen before,'' Turner said of the devices. ''It looks like the intent was to light the diesel so eventually it would heat up and blow the gas tank.''

Neither of the gas cans had exploded. Had the devices worked as intended, they could have burned both houses and any sleeping occupants severely, Turner said.

The suspect's motive remains murky, he said.

''A real aggravated neighbor, I guess.'' Turner said. ''It doesn't really make sense to anybody.''

The coroner's office said identification of the suspect's body would take several days and require dental records.

Sunday night, Saucedo and her family tried to wash off the gasoline from their front door and porch. The family had evacuated before dawn by jumping over their backyard fence into a parking lot.

Of her neighbor, Saucedo recalled, ''He would shout at the neighbors all the time, but we just ignored him.... He threatened to kill kids, but he could barely walk, so we never paid attention to him.''

Submitted on 01/09/2006

Submitted by: Gabriel Chapman
Reference: Monterey County Herald

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Neutral: For Darwin's Eyes
Possibly more info on the grumpy old man story...passing it on to Darwin!

Greg said:
Neutral: For Darwin's Eyes
Yup - does seem to be a bit more info here.

Jack said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
There is some additional information in the reject stack story "Fiery End to a feud," which brings up the possible PTSD issue from his service in the German Army in WW II.

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