A man allegedly set a woman on fire Sunday afternoon in a wooded area of Laurel.
Howard County police responded to a witness phone call shortly after 2:45 p.m. from a nearby Weis Markets grocery store. Police believe both the suspect and victim are homeless, as the witness told police that they lived in the woods off of Gorman Road. Officers searched Laurel Sunday afternoon and spotted the man on Greenwood Place about 5 p.m.
The woman was taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore with severe burns. As of Sunday afternoon, police could not provide updates on her condition, and declined to release her identity.
Howard County Police spokesman Sherry Llewellyn said that she was unsure where the man was being treated for his minor injuries, but “I know he is being guarded by police.”
Police have yet to identify the suspect, but Llewellyn said she expected to release that information Monday. The motive for the attack, and the relationship between the man and woman, remained unclear Sunday.
