A woman sleeping on a street bench outside a drug store was doused with an accelerant and set on fire Wednesday night in Los Angeles.
Witnesses told police that a man poured liquid — possibly a beverage containing alcohol — on the sleeping woman at about 1 a.m. outside a Walgreens store in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles. He lit a match and ran from the location, witnesses told police.
The woman, who is in her 60s, was hospitalized in critical condition.
"It was like when you pour gasoline on something — like an explosion," said witness Erickson Ipina.
The man purchased the bottle containing alcohol in the Walgreens store, then poured the contents on the woman, Ipina told a Newsreel photographer. Ipina said he called 911 and followed the attacker, who brandished a knife.
"He told me, 'Stop following me, or I will cut you,'" Ipina said. "I kept following him, and then the police came."
One person was taken into custody after the attack.
Photo Credit: Newsreel