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| Raymond Sean Clark |
(Scroll down for video) A man was burned alive after he brushed off a panhandler who begged him for some spare change, according to press reports in California.
The victim, 63, was approached by a man outside a 7-Eleven store in Long Beach, California on Friday afternoon.
When the 37-year-old panhandler, Raymond Sean Clark, begged for some change, the elderly man simply said no and kept walking into the convenience store.
Upon leaving, the suspect followed the victim to his truck, and then poured a flammable substance through an open window, and ignited the victim and his car. “He lit the car on fire and within minutes, the truck and passenger were engulfed in flames,” a witness told a local television news station.
"With the door open, you could see everything inside was in flames," another witness said. "He rushed out and it was horrible. His shirt was on fire, his head was on fire," the witness said.
The victim suffered third degree burns and is in critical condition at a local hospital.
Police have detained the suspect and was charged with arson and attempted murder.
The authorities are calling it an act of random violence. The two men are not believed to have known each other.
"It's a horrible to think that someone will actually for no reason light you on fire," Long Beach Police Sergeant Aaron Eaton said.
“Most beggars look like harmless individuals, but few a really scary. From now on I will definitely just walk by and pretend no one is there. I am very scared,” Donna Hartly, 23, of Los Angeles, California told YourJewishNews.com after learning about the incident.
Neighbors said they often saw the beggar in the area but never suspected he was capable of such a crime.
"I guess he had a bad day or something," Shawn Garry a neighbor said.
The suspects was jailed on $502,000 bail.Mobile video not loading? Click here to view