KSP: Man kills himself after setting fires
According to State Police, a 14-year-old boy was at the home on Woodridge Drive in Garrard County when his estranged father showed up, told the boy to leave and then set the house on fire.
Investigators say the boy walked down the street, wearing only sweatpants and socks, and called 911 around 10:40 a.m. Friday.
While on the phone to 911 dispatchers, the boy came across a work crew doing a home inspection in a vacant house for sale next door. John Elliott was part of the inspection crew.
“He’s knocking on the door asking to come in,” John Elliott says. “I asked him ‘Can I help you?’ and he said he was on the phone with 911 [because] ‘my dad is threatening to burn the house down.’”
The work crew let the boy inside the home while they waited for police.
When a Garrard County Sheriff’s Deputy and a State Trooper arrived, the home was already fully engulfed in flames and smoke was beginning to show from a barn near the back of the property, according to investigators.
State police say the deputy and the trooper went down to the barn to see if there was anyone inside. When they got there, they say they found a man inside dead from self-inflicted wounds.
According to State Police, because of heavy flames, they could not recover the body.
“It’s unreal that I drove by that house on my way here this morning,” Elliott says. “To think that here we are three, or two hours, later that none of it exists anymore.”
State Police tell ABC 36 News that the father had a domestic violence order (DVO) filed against him and was not supposed to be at the home.
“This family has lost a lot today and I can’t even put my mind around that,” Elliott says.
Investigators say the mother was at work at the time of the incident.
No other injuries were reported, according to State Police.
The victim’s name wasn’t released pending positive identification.
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