Underhill and St Johns fire, with fatality

Wayfarers said:

How this for F'd up: I saw the perp walking back and forth on my street(prospect place btwn Vanderbilt and Underhill) on Tuesday. I tried to say Hi, but he was clearly a paranoid schizophrenic with an aggressive bent. He was yelling at imaginary people and I actually thought to myself, "this guy is big and scary. I wouldn't want to be the person he goes off on."

So sad to hear that my premonition was accurate. I wish I'd been able to help in someway, but crazy people walking the streets is nothing new.

As HORRIBLE as this crime is, I also can't help but feel sad for this obviously deranged individual. What a tragedy.

... And yes, I spoke to 77th precinct detectives last night as soon as I saw the photos

In many situations, people have a feeling that something bad is about to happen but are unable to intervene. The reasons are numorous:

The police and psychiatric hospitals can't do anything until rigid standards are met.

The police and psychiatric systems are overwhelmed

Very few crimes can be predicted with certainty.

Hospitalization and/or incarceration isn't forever, and rarely cures a person or stops recidivism.

The media will likely follow this story for a while, and will detail the extent of this suspect's past involvement with prison and mental health systems. If he has such a history, the decisions of those involved in his case will be second guessed.

Unfortunately there is no easy fix. If there was, we would have far fewer instances like this.

The latest version of the story, as per the Associated Press 7:30PM, Dec 18: http://www.pressherald.com/news/Police-NY-man-says-he-set-woman-on-fire-over-debt.html

AP wrote: Jerome Isaac sits in a police car after being led out of the 77th Precinct in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sunday, following his arrest in the death of 73-year-old Deloris Gillespie. Isaac told police he set Gillespie on fire in an elevator because she owed him $2,000, authorities said Sunday.

AP wrote:

Police: N.Y. man says he set woman on fire over debtAfter killing Deloris Gillespie, Jerome Isaac set another fire elsewhere, then hid on a roof before turning himself in, police say.

By CRISTIAN SALAZAR/The Associated Press

NEW YORK — As Deloris Gillespie went up the elevator to her fifth-floor Brooklyn apartment, carrying groceries, her killer was waiting. Though no one may have seen him, he had been in the building long enough for neighbors to have smelled something odd.

Surveillance video from inside the small elevator shows that he looked something like an exterminator, with a canister sprayer, white gloves and a dust mask, which was perched atop his head like a pair of sunglasses. The sprayer was full of flammable liquid.

When the elevator opened Saturday afternoon, the man sprayed the 73-year-old woman, who turned around and crouched down to try to protect herself, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.

The attacker sprayed Gillespie in the face and continued to spray her "sort of methodically" over her head and parts of her body as her bags of groceries draped off her arms, Browne said.

Then, Browne said, the attacker pulled out a barbecue-style lighter and used it to ignite a rag in a bottle. He waited a few seconds as Gillespie huddled on the floor. Then he backed out of the elevator and tossed in the flaming bottle.

Neighbors in the Prospect Heights building quickly reported a fire, but had no idea that a woman was being burned alive.

Overnight, a 47-year-old man smelling of gasoline went into a police station and implicated himself in Gillespie's death, Browne said. The suspect, Jerome Isaac, told police he set her on fire because she owed him $2,000 for some work he had done for her, Browne said.

Jaime Holguin, who lives on the same floor as Gillespie, saw surveillance pictures of the attacker and said, "Oh, my God!"

Holguin, the manager of news development for The Associated Press, said the attacker looked like a man who lived with Gillespie for about six months last year and appeared to have been helping her out.

That arrangement apparently ended by early 2011, but months later Holguin started seeing the man nearby on the street, looking "a lot more disheveled."

Browne said that after setting Gillespie ablaze, Isaac set another fire at his own apartment building nearby, then hid on a roof before turning himself in to police.

Isaac was arrested Sunday on murder and arson charges. The Brooklyn district attorney's office had no information on whether he had an attorney.

Residents were evacuated and kept away from the six-story building for hours Saturday night as police investigated. On Sunday, Holguin said, the fifth floor was a mess, with a melted elevator door and a layer of water on the floor.

Holguin said he and his girlfriend had taken the elevator on their way out of the building shortly before the attack. They didn't see anyone on the floor with them but did notice an odd smell, as if someone was painting, he said.

Holguin said police told them later that the assailant was already in the building and perhaps had hidden on another floor when they left their apartment.

Daily News confirms no prior criminal record:

“I know this is the defendant’s first offense, but the depravity of this one single act is beyond my description,” Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Taub said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/jerome-isaac-held-bail-brooklyn-elevator-torching-delores-gillespie-prosecutor-evidence-question-article-1.993866#ixzz1h0MwX6KA

AP wrote: Jerome Isaac appeared in court Monday with visible burns on his face and said nothing. He was held without bail. His lawyer requested solitary confinement and medical attention and did not speak outside court.

source: http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/suspect-in-nyc-torching-1264323.html

Psychiatric defense not being pursued by his attorney, making me believe Isaac has no relevant psychiatric history:

Isaac’s lawyer, Howard Tanner, did not make an application for bail or request a psychiatric evaluation.

The councilwoman said Gillespie — who cut off Isaac for stealing from her Prospect Heights apartment — never got an order of protection against him because she didn’t know his full name.

source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/jerome-isaac-held-bail-brooklyn-elevator-torching-delores-gillespie-prosecutor-evidence-question-article-1.993866#ixzz1h0NSLxEV