A homeless girl advised to not panhandle outdoors a Florida gasoline station doused a clerk with gasoline and set her on fireplace, sheriff officers mentioned.
Betty Jean McFadden, 30, was charged with tried homicide within the ugly assault at a Circle Ok gasoline station in Pensacola, the place she was advised earlier Wednesday to depart, according to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
McFadden left, however returned at about 1 p.m. Wednesday with a gasoline can and attacked the feminine clerk by dousing her with gasoline she “panhandled” earlier than throwing matches at her and setting her on fireplace, sheriff’s officers mentioned.
A second gasoline station worker was additionally burned whereas serving to put out the flames. McFadden proceeded to “calmly” stroll out of the gasoline station and was arrested a couple of blocks away.
“Our ideas and prayers are with the sufferer and her household,” Sheriff Chip Simmons mentioned in an announcement. “This can be a mindless and virtually indescribable act of cruelty.”
McFadden, who’s listed as homeless in jail data, is being held with out bond on an tried homicide cost. It’s unclear if she’s employed an lawyer who might touch upon her behalf.
An Escambia County Sheriff’s Workplace spokeswoman advised The Put up she couldn’t present an replace on the sufferer’s situation early Thursday, citing privateness legal guidelines.
“We all know she suffered life-threatening accidents,” spokeswoman Amber Southard wrote in an electronic mail.
The feminine clerk, who has not been recognized, had “horrific” burns and was rushed to a hospital. She ran from McFadden after she was doused in gasoline, Simmons told the Pensacola News Journal.
A number of witnesses noticed the grisly assault and used clothes and water contained in the gasoline station to extinguish the flames, Simmons mentioned.
The second clerk was additionally hospitalized. McFadden didn’t say something to the girl she doused with gasoline previous to the assault, Simmons told WKRG.
