Body camera footage shows OKC man torching himself, home before trying to set deputies on fire
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office has now released body camera footage showing an 82-year-old man setting himself and his home on fire before trying to ignite deputies.
Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said two female deputies went to a home on Flamingo Avenue to serve a elderly couple with an eviction notice.
One of those deputies had been working with the couple for a few weeks to find them somewhere safe to stay once the eviction notice would be served.
“They were going to an extended stay facility [Monday] and an Uber was waiting out front to take them to that location as our deputies were tending to the elderly woman who has Parkinson’s disease,” said Sheriff Johnson III.
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Body camera shows as deputies were attempting to escort 82-year-old Anthony Goulding’s wife out of the home, Goulding began pouring gasoline on the carpet outside of a back bedroom.
“Hey! What are you doing?,” asked one Oklahoma County deputy.
“You ready?,” responds Goulding as he pulls out a lighter and ignites the gasoline-soaked carpet.
“No! Stop!,” said the deputy.
A deputy then pushes Goulding to the ground in an effort to get him away from the fire.
Goulding’s right arm catches fire and then he throws a gas canister at the deputy. The flames grow larger.
The deputy hit with the gas canister backs away from the bedroom. Both of her feet are swallowed up by the flames.
“Oh my gosh,” says one deputy.
“Dispatch. Fire! Fire!,” says another deputy.
Both deputies run to the living room and tell Goulding’s wife, “Come on. We gotta go. We gotta get you out.”
Goulding’s wife was unable to walk out of the house on her own, so both deputies were forced to drag her out of the home to safety.
One of the deputies attempts to go back into the house to save Goulding, but the smoke keeps her out.
“Quickly, the home was overtaken by fire and smoke and that prevented her from making another entry,” stated Sheriff Johnson III. “I think that’s the biggest piece of this. For me to see our deputies, like even in the midst of all of this going on, still trying to save a life, still trying to get there, still trying to prevent it from happening in the fire. I really want to praise the courage of our deputies for what they attempted to do and what they did do was they saved a life.”
Goulding passed away in the house fire, along with a dog.
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“This was a surprise for everyone who was on scene,” added Sheriff Johnson III.
“I think often times the judicial division gets kind of the label of it’s safe because we’re serving papers. There’s nothing safe about judicial. You are dealing with people’s emotions each and every day,” explained Sheriff Johnson III. “You’re taking someone’s home away. That’s their last stand like that. I can tell you the first time I bought my first piece of property, how proud I was to be a homeowner. That is the American dream. And you’re taking that away from somebody. You talk about a world of emotion. [I’m] extremely proud of our deputies because we really go above and beyond to try to help our citizens along the way.”
Sheriff Johnson III confirmed with News 4 that both of the female deputies involved in serving the eviction notice have been medically cleared. One did have minor burns, though.
Goulding’s wife is also okay and living somewhere safe, according to Sheriff Johnson III.
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