A Latina woman was arrested this Saturday in California for attempted murder, accused of setting fire to a man in a park in Fresno County, in the Central Valley, in an attack that was recorded on video by security cameras.
Patricia Castillo, 48, was arrested along with an alleged accomplice, Leonard Hawkins, 43, accused of providing her with an accelerating substance that made it easier for her to start the fire, local authorities reported in a statement.
Police responded shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday to a park in the city of Sanger, about 15 miles east of Fresno, following a call for an injured person.
There he found a man with severe burns to his upper body.
Patricia Castillo, 48, arrested for attempted murder, and Leonard Hawkins, 43, for complicity.
sanger police
The victim, whose identity has not been released, told authorities that a woman had set him on fire;
he was rushed to a local hospital, police said, with serious injuries.
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The video surveillance system of the Sanger Police Department caught the incident on video: footage shows the man sitting on the grass as a woman walks up to him and pours liquid on him from a cup.
Then the two appear to argue, the woman lights a lighter, and the man's clothes catch fire.
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From these images and eyewitness accounts, investigators located Castillo and Hawkins and arrested them as suspects.
Details of what caused the attack are not yet known.
Castillo and Hawkins are being held in the Fresno County jail, she for attempted murder and he for complicity in assault.