AFFIDAVIT: Suspect set house on fire because family didn’t follow Bible (KTSM-TV, El Paso)

I’m glad my neighbours didn’t try this; they only used fireworks against my house.

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) - A 40-year-old man arrested for allegedly setting a West Side home on fire is charged with capital murder after his brother was killed in the incident.

The El Paso Police Department says Philip Daniel Mills set fire to a residence located at 6001 Fandango Place on Thursday at 11:30 p.m. He was arrested after police suspected him of causing the blaze.

An affidavit written by an EPPD detective says Mills allegedly admitted to setting the house on fire. And, in a recorded statement, claimed to have used gasoline from a weed eater to fuel the fire.

Mills poured the gasoline on a sofa in the living room and used a lit cloth to start the fire, according to the document.

“Once the sofa caught on fire, he walked outside the house and waited to see if his mother or brother would go outside but they didn’t,” the affidavit reads. “The defendant advised that he waited outside the residence with large rocks in his hands in the event that both his brother and mother had made it out the burning residence.”

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