Homeless Man in Texas Set Ablaze

June 17, 2004
A group of men set a homeless man ablaze as he slept in an attack captured on surveillance videotape.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) -- A group of men set a homeless man ablaze as he slept in an attack captured on surveillance videotape.

Police were looking for up to eight men who participated in the attack Tuesday outside an agency that helps the homeless. The victim, Lucas Adama Wiser, 21, remained hospitalized Thursday with third-degree burns.

A surveillance videotape at Corpus Christi Metro Ministries showed a dark sport utility vehicle and a smaller vehicle pulling up to Wiser and setting him on fire. It was unclear whether his attackers doused him with a flammable liquid.

``Then you see the fire and they ran off,'' police Capt. John Moseley told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times in Thursday's editions.

Police could not identify license plate numbers from the video.

Wiser suffered swelling and burn marks on his right arm, third-degree burns on the forearm and minor burns on his thighs.

``It's shocking and violent,'' Moseley said.

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