A Commerce City man’s apparent murder plot backfired when he set himself on fire while igniting his former girlfriend’s home in Basalt, officials say.
The man, whose identity has not been released, fatally shot himself in the head with a high-powered assault rifle after running from the duplex on fire, Basalt Police Chief Keith Ikeda said Tuesday.
The man, on probation for a federal explosives conviction, had not seen his former girlfriend for several years, Ikeda said.
At 5 a.m. Saturday, he entered the duplex and started a fire in the living room, Ikeda said.
One theory is that he intended to shoot the woman, whose identity has not been released, as she ran from the burning home, he said.
But the man’s clothing caught fire, and he ran from the house enveloped in flames, Ikeda said witnesses told police. The man had several Ruger mini-14 cartridges in his pockets, which exploded while he burned on the front lawn, Ikeda said.
The woman ran out of the house without injury, but the fire caused a significant amount of damage to her home, he said.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
