A Manhattan homeless man was set on fire while he sheltered in the stairwells of a local building Friday afternoon.
The suspect, 27-year-old Nathaniel Terry, was a resident of the Samuel Gompers Houses at 60 Pitt. St. and had admitted to setting the sleeping man on fire to scare him off.
“He had clothes on, but they were like melted in his skin,” witness Christopher Watson said of the victim. “He was on fire like he was burning up.”
“I smelled it. He wasn’t even crying or anything like that. he wasn’t even making noise. He was just on fire.”
The homeless, believed to be in his 30s, suffered severe burns to over 75% of his body and was in a coma as of Saturday morning.
A visitor recalled seeing the horrific scene as he stepped into the building with police trying to extinguish the flames.
“I don’t know if somebody set him on fire, or of he set himself on fire, but he was burnt to a crisp,” he said.
