WASHINGTON — Prince George’s County police arrested a man accused of setting a pregnant woman on fire in her Capitol Heights apartment Friday morning.
The fire started around 11:45 a.m. in a second-floor apartment in a three-story building at 1405 Elkwood Ln. When officials arrived, they found a pregnant woman who had been critically burned on a large part of her body, said police spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan.
She was able to tell emergency responders who set her on fire – a man with whom she had a relationship, Donelan said. The victim also told officials the suspect was on his way to D.C. to do more harm to one of her relatives, Donelan added.
“She was very brave. We want her family to know how brave she was – suffering as badly as she was, critically burned, worried about her unborn child, dealing with those injuries, and was able to share the information with us,” Donelan said.
Emergency crews rushed the victim to Medstar Washington Hospital Center, where doctors delivered her baby. She and the child are alive, Donelan said.
The suspect turned himself into police in D.C. Friday. Charges are pending against the suspect.
“Within 2-and-a-half hours of that horrible scene here, we had that suspect in custody,” Donelan said in front of the Capitol Heights apartment where the woman lived.
Donelan said the woman’s actions allowed police to get a “very dangerous person off the street.”
Is it not yet clear when the baby was due, she said.
Prince George’s County Police Department’s homicide detectives are investigating the case.
