Women often expect the backhanded reply of, “Ight then, you ugly anyway,” or possibly something more aggressive when rejecting a man. However, one Michigan teen is accused of responding in an extreme, and dangerous way, putting the girl’s entire family in fear for their lives.
Macomb County prosecutors say the incident happened around 3 a.m. on April 10 when a rental home on Eldredge Street suddenly caught fire. Though, what seemed to begin as a small, sparked fire turned into something more like an explosion.
“You just hear a big old boom, like it was just loud. It sounded literally like someone threw an M-80 in there. It blew up. When I went downstairs, first it was like a little fire. It wasn’t nothing big,” said Delvon Lee, who was inside the home with his 9-month-old son.
Also in the home was the infant’s mother, grandmother, a cousin, plus a 2-month-old, Lee told WXYZ. The family ran out of the house through the back door and hopped a fence to escape the fire. Home camera footage from across the street showed massive flames flooding out the windows of the front of the house.
Thankfully, everyone managed to escape the fire without injury, per the report. However, the house sustained serious damage leading to suspicions of intentional arson. A few days later, prosecutors confirmed that theory with the arrest of a 17-year-old in connection to the incident.
While police have yet to release an official motive behind the fire, Lee told reporters he had an idea: rejection. He told the outlet the teen was talking to a female cousin who resided in the home. Earlier that night, Lee said she refused his invitation to go out. Later that evening, police say the teen broke into their house and planted the bomb.
“This is a kid ruining his life over a girl he met five days ago,” Lee told reporters.
The teen is being held at the Juvenile Justice Center on charges of home invasion and arson... but only for now. Prosecutors are considering having him charged as an adult, prosecutors said, per The Detroit News.
“This was an extremely serious crime that endangered the lives of seven people and caused substantial damage to a home. I am especially outraged that the lives of two infants were put at risk,” said Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido in a statement. He added how his “office will not tolerate this reckless disregard for human life and private property.”