A council member in Virginia was doused in gasoline and set on fire Wednesday after a man forced his way into the office of the magazine where he worked.
Lee Vogler, a long-serving city councillor in Danville, Va., had a 19-litre bucket of gasoline poured on him in the office of Showcase Magazine before the suspect set him ablaze, police confirmed.
Andrew Brooks, the publisher and owner of the magazine, recounted the incident in a Facebook post Wednesday morning.
“Lee attempted to flee, ran to the front of the building,” Brooks said in the video. “The individual followed him and set him on fire.”
Brooks said Vogler, 38, is conscious and able to communicate and is being treated at a nearby burn centre. The extent of his injuries hasn’t been revealed.
“Our hearts and prayers are with him,” Brooks said in the video, becoming emotional. “This type of senseless act of violence has to stop. You do not have the right as a human being to get upset with someone enough to lash out and attempt to harm them in any way, much less this way.”
The Danville Police Department says the suspect fled the scene, but officers were able to quickly track him down a few blocks away based on eyewitness descriptions of the suspect and his vehicle.
Police say the suspect, 29-year-old Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, is currently in custody and charges are pending.
Officials say the two men know each other and the attack “stems from a personal matter not related to the victim’s position on Danville City Council or any other political affiliation.”
“Please keep our colleague and our brother in your prayers,” the vice-mayor of Danville, James Buckner, said in an interview with ABC13.
According to the Danville city council website, Vogler has served as a councillor since 2012, while also working as the managing partner for Andrew Brooks Media Group.