Police seek suspect after person burned on Columbia porch
Matthew Sanders
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A person was hospitalized with life-threatening burns late Sunday in Columbia and police are seeking a suspect.
Officers were called to the 1500 block of Paris Road to help firefighters at about 11:45 p.m. Sunday, according to a Columbia Police Department news release. A man had been rushed to the hospital after a porch was set on fire, the release says.
The fire caused minor property damage but left the victim with life-threatening injuries, police say.
The suspect left on a bicycle toward College Avenue, police say. Police describe him as a man wearing a hat and white T-shirt with brown hair and a mustache, 35-40 years old, about 6-feet tall and thin.
Police did not provide a possible motive.
A man who said he witnessed the attack — but wanted to stay anonymous because of safety concerns — told ABC 17News he saw someone throw gasoline onto the porch, lighting the victim on fire, and said the victim was later transported to a St. Louis hospital.
The Columbia Police Department asks anyone with information to call the department at 573-874-7652 or CrimeStoppers at 573-875-8477.