RICHMOND, Va . (WTVR) - Police arrested a man in connection to a strange incident that played out early Thursday morning.
Richmond police said 35-year-old Sean R. Harrington, of the 1600 block of Altamont Avenue, was charged with malicious wounding after he tried to set a woman on fire.
Officials said the domestic assault happened just before 4 a.m. at an apartment building on Altamont Ave. in the Scott's Addition off Boulevard and Broad Street.
The woman walked a half mile from where she was burned before emergency crews got to her, police sources said. Richmond Fire and EMS crews picked up the woman near the intersection of Broad St. and Boulevard.
Emergency crews rushed the woman to the hospital where she was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
"It's upsetting. I took a 3 and a half mile walk this morning and cried," said an unidentified resident.
"I was more or less just grossed out and disgusted when I heard what actually happened," said Andrew Cuba.
People who live in the building say they had called police before Wednesday night -- to report domestic disputes between Harrington and the woman coming from the couple's apartment.
Cuba says he never expected to hear something like this.
"It's unnerving. But to know that somebody was trying to set somebody on fire and that my roommate, my girlfriend, and my pets were asleep in the apartment I just left. Had the building caught on fire. I mean… that's terrifying," said Cuba.
CBS 6 did a little digging and found out that Sean Harrington has a lengthy criminal background that includes assault and battery, destruction of property and possession of marijuana.
Harrington is behind bars at the Richmond City jail.
