Watch: Police Release Graphic Video of Man Set Afire

Police Monday provided a description of the suspect in the disturbing case of a Long Beach man set on fire, an attack caught on a security camera and now posted widely on media sites (watch here).

"According to witness statements, the suspect had ignited a bottle of flammable liquid before throwing it at the feet of the victim who had been waiting outside for a relative, who was shopping inside," stated a police press statement released Monday. "The suspect had then fled from the area on foot and out of sight."

The suspect in the Friday night attack outside a store on Pacific Coast Highway was described by police as follows:

- male Hispanic
- 25 to 30 years-old
- 5'8’ to 5’10" 
- 180 pounds
- wearing a light colored short sleeve button-down shirt with vertical stripes and blue jeans

 Earlier lede, and remainder of the story:

Police Sunday night asked the public's help in identifying the grainy video image of an attacker who torched a complete stranger outside a Long Beach market where he waited for his father. The victim, 54, was engulfed in flames, which the video from a security camera captured.

The younger man with a molotov cocktail-like device can be seen on the video from two angles, and in Long Beach can be seen on a surveillance video police released Sunday night. Long Beach police detectives hope someone can identify the man who left the victim seriously injured Friday night.

WARNING: Graphic material is on the tape.

The attack happened around 7 p.m. Friday in the 200 block of Pacific Coast Highway, said Long Beach police Sgt. Aaron Eaton. Investigators who examined surveillance video learned that a man believed to be in his 20s wearing light-colored clothing ran out from an alley and threw a bottle with an unknown flammable liquid in it, Eaton said.

``It landed at the feet of the victim and caused him to catch on fire,'' Eaton said. The victim was taken to a hospital, where he was in serious but stable condition with burns to his lower body, Eaton said.

At a Sunday night press conference, the Associate Press reported, police reiterated that the victim, who has not been named, did not know his attacker, who fled on foot.

The Long Beach Police Department asked that anyone who may have information about the suspect's identity or whereabouts, or other information about the attack, to please contact the Long Beach Fire Department’s Arson Hotline at (562) 570-2582.  For an immediate police response call 9-1-1.  Anonymous tips may be submitted by calling 1 (800) 222-TIPS, texting TIPLA plus your tip to CRIMES, or visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.

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