JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There’s a neighborhood crime alert for people living on and around Edison Street in the Lackawanna neighborhood.
A family of five is lucky to be alive and still have a home after the state fire marshal said someone purposely ignited an explosive device in their driveway.
According to the state fire marshal’s office, someone created a torch drenched with gasoline and then set it under the family’s sport utility vehicle near the gas tank. The SUV was parked in the driveway just feet from the home where two adults and three children were sleeping.
A scorch mark can still be seen in the driveway of the home that Lorraine Jackson’s family recently moved into. It’s the remnant of a tire that exploded late Saturday night.
“We were awakened to loud pop or bang outside. I told my husband to go check and see what the noise was. He went out front and discovered our vehicle was on fire,” Jackson told News4JAX. “Had we not heard the tire burst, we probably would have lost it all.”
Jackson said she and her husband had just purchased the SUV and didn’t understand why it was on fire, and because it was parked close to the home, she feared the fire would spread.
“It was horrific because I didn’t know if the vehicle was going to blow up or whatever, so I immediately got myself and my 5-month-old out and the rest of my girls out of the home,” Jackson recounted.
A police report was written up by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. On Tuesday, Jackson said, she received a phone call from the state fire marshal that left her even more worried.
“They let us know the individual created a torch and doused it in gasoline and lit our vehicle on fire,” she said.
Evidence of a torch was located in the area of the rear tire well close to the gas tank.
Jackson said she and her husband don’t have enemies and find it hard to understand why someone would put their family in danger.
“We are a good upstanding family. We work. We go to church and come home and spend time with our daughters, so this is something we would least expect to happen to us,” Jackson said.
According to a JSO crime map adjusted to show reported crimes within a half-mile radius of Jackson’s home, there has been a murder, two home burglaries, a car burglary, and seven thefts within the past four weeks. And now there has been a confirmed arson.
Jackson and her husband are urging all their neighbors to look out for each other and report anything suspicious.
If anyone has information about this arson case, you are urged to contact JSO at 904-630-0500.