By LIZ FABIAN
Macon Telegraph (Georgia)
A Macon-Bibb County Fire Department arson investigator dodged bullets Friday after catching an arsonist torching a car.
Lt. Tom Musselwhite was driving back to the office when he saw a ball of fire rising up from a neighborhood off Interstate 75 near Mercer University Drive.
When Musselwhite drove up Moore Street, he found a man with a gas can next to a blazing Oldsmobile Cutlass.
Musselwhite slammed on his brakes sending the arsonist running as Musselwhite screeched to halt, he said.
After Musselwhite got out of his pickup, multiple shots rang out.
“I didn’t know if I was being shot at or what, but a large amount of ammunition was going off,” said Musselwhite. “It sounded like a war.”
Some of the shots ricocheted off Dorothy Varner’s cinderblock duplex, including one that left a ring of black powder where the bullet hit the peach paint.
“I thought somebody was shooting,” said Varner, who sought refuge in her back bedroom. “I heard the popping going on when I called the police.”
After firefighters extinguished the burning car, Musselwhite found numerous shredded shell casings from 45 caliber and 9 mm bullets that were apparently in the car when it was set afire.
No one was hurt.
Anyone with information about the arson is asked to call the Georgia Arson Hotline at (800) 282-5804.