A 74-year-old Baltimore County man set fire to his Essex apartment before jumping from the top floor of the building Sunday night, killing himself, according to the fire department.
Authorities say David Boyd Thompson, who was scheduled to be evicted “after being told he could not smoke in the building” set a small one-alarm fire in his eighth-floor apartment at the Essex Co-Op Apartment Complex in the 1000 block of Franklin Ave.
Police and fire crews were dispatched around 11 p.m. in response to the fire, finding “several points of origin in the unit, as well as empty bottles of charcoal fluid and a lighter,” according to the fire department.
As crews were working at the scene around 11:27 p.m., the fire department said Thompson jumped off the 12th floor of the apartment building, landing near a fire department captain. Emergency medical crews were unable to revive Thompson.
The fire was contained to Thomson’s apartment and no one was displaced, the fire department said.