BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A man is facing multiple charges, including attempted murder, arson and aggravated assault against law enforcement officers after he set a house on fire in Brooksville and then barricaded himself inside his home, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office said.
It all started just after 3 a.m. on July 5. Deputies said they went to a home on Pryor Street after a person called to say their house was on fire and everyone had gotten out.
Within minutes, first responders were on the scene and found the home fully engulfed in flames. As firefighters battled the blaze, deputies said they began interviewing the victims and witnesses.
Authorities say they quickly came to believe the fire had been set on purpose, so the Florida State Fire Marshal's Office was called in. The marshal confirmed the fire was arson.
A woman living in the house reportedly showed investigators a series of threatening text messages from 50-year-old James Hines. Those texts included threats from Hines to the victims that he would "burn the house down, with both of them inside."
Investigators said they learned Hines and the woman had been "romantically involved" but had since broken up. Hines was reportedly "unhappy" about the break-up and was texting her late on July 4.
Those texts devolved into threats against the woman and another person living in the Pryor Street home.
During the investigation, deputies spoke with a clerk at a Speedway on Cortez Boulevard in Brooksville who said he saw Hines around 1:30 a.m. on July 5 come into the store and buy gloves, a medical-type face mask and $5 worth of gasoline.
Before he left the gas station, Hines reportedly asked for directions to Pryor Street.
About an hour later, Hines was seen near the Sunoco on S. Broad Street, riding his motorized bicycle and carrying the bag of items.
With that information, deputies said the search for Hines began.
Before 6:30 a.m. July 5, authorities found where Hines was living and made contact with his roommate, who told deputies he wasn't home, the release said.
The search continued, but the sheriff's office said the agency kept some deputies at the home to watch for Hines' return.
Just before 1:30 p.m., Hines returned home. However, deputies said when they tried to speak with him, Hines retreated inside the home and would not answer calls from the deputies.
Minutes later, Hines tried to leave the house and avoid authorities by climbing out of a window on the north side of the house, the sheriff's office said. Deputies said they saw him and said he was armed with a gun.
Before deputies could get to him, Hines "dove" back into the home and pointed his gun at the deputies, "screaming he will kill them."
This led to an hours-long standoff.
"He had a long gun and started firing at deputies," Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis said in a previous news conference. "Of course, this was a huge mistake on his part because Hernando County and Citrus County deputies did return fire."
Around 9:30 p.m., shots were fired and Hines was taken out of the house and to the hospital, deputies said. He had non-life-threatening injuries, the sheriff's office said.
"Obviously, he was willing and able to do something as extreme as set a house on fire with gasoline with two people in it," Nienhuis said. "This is somebody who is pretty much capable of anything."