A machete-wielding maniac in Texas allegedly tried to set two of his neighbors’ homes on fire in a crazy caught-on-camera arson spree.
Phi-Le Dinh Nguyen, 46, of West Harris County, indulged his incendiary ways last Wednesday by grabbing a red gas can, walking across Brighton Hollow Lane and pouring gasoline on the side of his neighbor’s house in broad daylight, all while brandishing a giant machete, according to ABC 13 in Houston.
The homeowners quickly extinguished the blaze, which scorched part of the lawn and the home’s brick exterior.
“It would have been a lot worse had we not stopped it,” victim Andy Heredia told the station.
Shortly afterward, Nguyen wandered a few houses down and allegedly repeated his pyromaniac impulses.
“You setting my house on fire?” a woman calls to him, according to a surveillance recording obtained by the station. “I got my kids in the house!”
Nguyen doesn’t seem to respond — just walks over the lawn, dumps the fuel on the side of the house and lights it up.
But again, the madman’s efforts failed miserably — the flames only burnt part of the lawn.
Meanwhile, Nguyen strode to the front of the driveway, where he looked around and started swinging his machete at the air, ABC said.
He later threatened the second victim with the big blade. She told deputies that he came after her waving the blade as she tried to put the fire out with a hose, according to KHOU 11.
Cops also say he threatened a Harris County sheriff’s deputy who responded to the scene, according to court documents.
The officer tased Nguyen, then locked him up.
Authorities slapped the flame-happy firebug with first degree-felony arson, aggravated assault against a public servant and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the station said.
Nguyen’s bail was set at $200,000 — and Judge Danilo Lacayo levelled a stern warning alongside the hefty sum.
“If you violate your bond conditions, just one of them, one time, I will zero bond you,” he told Nguyen.
“I will never give you another bond, and you will be in the Harris County Jail until your trial date or until your case is resolved, are we clear?”