Charges filed after Virginia councilman set on fire outside downtown office
Police on Thursday charged a suspect with attempted first-degree murder after a Virginia city councilman and sales executive was set on fire outside his workplace Wednesday.
Danville police identified the suspect as Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29. He was also charged with aggravated malicious wounding in the case, which police have said stemmed from a personal matter between the two men.
Danville councilman Lee Vogler, 38, was being treated at a burn center in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he was airlifted after the midday attack. The extent of his injuries is unknown.
Police said Wednesday that officers had responded around 11:30 a.m. to an office building in central Danville, several blocks away from city hall, after a report of a man set on fire. Danville, a city of 42,000, is in southwest Virginia at the North Carolina border, about 45 minutes north of Greensboro.
Andrew Brooks, publisher and owner of Showcase Magazine, said in a video posted on Facebook that a man had forced his way into the magazine's offices with a five-gallon bucket of gasoline before pouring it on Vogler, the publication's sales director.
"Lee attempted to flee and ran to the front of the building," he said. "The individual followed him and set him on fire."
Officers, acting on witness descriptions, apprehended Buck Hayes in his vehicle a few blocks away and arrested him without incident. He is being held without bond in Danville City Jail.
Police say the attack was unrelated to Vogler's city council position, and the incident is still under investigation.
The incident prompted an outpouring of support from Virginia officials, including Governor Glenn Youngkin, who offered his prayers. "We pray for a swift recover for Lee and peace to be on the entire Danville community," Youngkin said in a Facebook post.
According to Danville's city website, Vogler was the youngest person ever elected to the council when he was voted in at age 24 in May 2012.