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Spokane police looking for man suspected of setting person on fire downtown

Spokane police say a man suffered critical injuries on Wednesday afternoon when he was set on fire under the railroad .
Spokane police say a man suffered critical injuries on Wednesday afternoon when he was set on fire under the railroad .
By Garrett Cabeza garrettc@spokesman.com(509) 459-5135

Spokane police are looking for a man who doused another man with gasoline and set him on fire Wednesday afternoon in downtown Spokane.

Officer Daniel Strassenberg, spokesman for the department, said the man who was set ablaze may have been sleeping in the viaduct when the accelerant was thrown on him and he was lit on fire.

Strassenberg declined to provide any identifying information on the victim other than he was a man under the age of 40.

Officers were flagged down shortly before 3 p.m. near the Browne Street viaduct and located a man with significant injuries, police said in a news release. Witnesses reported the suspect walked up, doused the victim with gasoline, set him on fire and left the area.

Strassenberg said he didn’t know what the attacker used to ignite the gasoline.

The victim sustained severe burns to a large part of his body, according to police. He was taken to a local hospital for emergency treatment before being flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Strassenberg said the victim’s injuries were life-threatening.

The person who set the victim on fire is described as wearing baggy jeans, no shirt and possibly carrying a tan backpack, police said.

Strassenberg said while police don’t know who the culprit is, the victim made statements indicative that he knew his attacker.

The culprit will face felony first-degree assault if and when arrested, he said.

Nearly 20 years ago, Matthew B. Trammell killed a homeless amputee by setting him on fire as he slept next to his wheelchair in downtown Spokane, according to previous Spokesman-Review reporting. A judge sentenced Trammell in 2007 to more than 18 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the 2006 death of 50-year-old Douglas Dawson.

Prosecutors said Trammell and Sean P. Knold robbed a woman downtown before Trammell lit Dawson on fire. Dawson died three days later at Harborview Medical Center.

Detectives are investigating and ask that anyone with information on Wednesday’s assault or the suspect’s whereabouts call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233 and reference incident No. 2025-20191685.