A councilman of the Virginia Republican Party of the American State was burned in an attack on Wednesday (30) and was hospitalized with “extreme burns.”
According to ABC News, the suspect of the attack, Shotsie Michael Buck-Hayes, 29, admitted to setting fire to Lee Vogler, 38, councilor of the city of Danville.
The local police department reported that Buck-Hayes argued with the councilman at Vogler’s workplace, a local publisher, and covered him with flammable liquid. The two left the building and the suspect set fire to the councilman, police said.
Buck-hayes fled the scene, but was arrested by police to some blocks away from the scene of the aggression.
The first information from the Danville Police Department indicates that Vogler and Buck-Hayes know each other “and the attack stems from a personal question not related to the victim’s position in the Danville Chamber or any other political affiliation.”
The councilman reported the “several people” that Buck-Hayes was responsible for the attack, according to the criminal complaint, in which it was also recorded that the suspect admitted intention to kill Vogler.
“You don’t have the right, as a human being, to be upset with someone to the point of attacking and trying to hurt you anyway, much less that way,” said Andrew Brooks, owner of the publisher where Vogler works, in a video posted on social networks, according to The New York Times.
Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, also from the Republican party, said on social networks that his prayers are “with Danville Lee Vogler’s councilman, who was violently attacked at his workplace earlier.”
“We pray for a quick recovery to Lee and may peace be with the entire Danville community,” he added.
