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Woman set afire in elevator of her NYC building
A woman burned to death in the elevator of her Brooklyn apartment building Saturday after a man ambushed her.
Delores Gillespie, a Brooklyn resident, was returning
home carrying grocery bags last afternoon.
As the elevator doors opened to her fifth floor of the
building, the man barged into the elevator and sprayed her
face and body with the accelerant.
Footage from surveillance cameras shows the man, in his
40s, dressed as an exterminator, wearing gloves and a
protective mask atop his head.
He is seen carrying a container on his back.
As Gillespie was cornered by her assailant, she tried to
turn away from her attacker, crouched down and covered her
face with her hands.
But the man managed to spray her face and torso
methodically with the flammable liquid, New York police
department spokesperson Paul Browne said.
The man then lit a Molotov cocktail, which is a wine or
Champagne bottle filled with accelerant with a piece of cloth
stuffed in its neck.
He waited for a few seconds and then set the woman on
fire.
"She goes up in flames and falls to the floor," Browne
said.
The cameras show that he repeatedly sprayed Gillespie`s
burning body with the liquid before running away.
Gillespie was pronounced dead at the scene. Five other
tenants suffered minor injuries.
The police have launched a manhunt for her killer.
The New York Daily News said the man had lived with the
woman until recently and was often seen collecting bottles and
cans outside the building.
Police are also looking for the man in local hospitals as
he appeared to have received injuries as he lit the woman on
fire.
PTI