Southern California

Calif. Man Charged With Attempted Murder After Fire Set Near Sleeping Homeless Man

The homeless man awoke to the smell of smoke and tried dousing the flames with bottled water, police said

A Southern California man accused of setting fire to the cardboard a homeless man was sleeping under has been charged with attempted murder, NBC News reports.

Richard Smallets, 32, was arrested Sept. 12, the same day a fire was set near a man sleeping on a sidewalk in Glendale, police said Tuesday in a statement.

Google_Launches_Updates_to_Gmail.jpg
Glendale Police Department
Richard Smallets, 32, was arrested on Sept. 12, 2019, the same day that the fire was set on cardboard under which the victim was sleeping, police said in a statement.

The homeless man awoke to find the cardboard boxes he was sleeping under were on fire, police said.

The man, who has not been identified, tried to put out the flames with bottled water before the fire department came and extinguished the blaze.

Police were called to the scene around 1:22 a.m. that morning. Officials did not say if the homeless man suffered any injuries.

Contact Us