City of Tonawanda Police say they are looking to charge a man with attempted murder after he set a woman, 25-years-old, on fire outside the Tim Hortons on Niagara street, Monday afternoon.
"What we’ve learned is that the female happened to be working at Tim Hortons at the time and the male showed up here with some kind of plastic container with flammable liquid," said City of Tonawanda Police Captain Fredric Foels.
Police say this is a domestic violence situation that escalated over custody of children, ages 2 and 4.
The man texted the woman who was working at Tim Hortons to come outside "to talk." When she came out to the dumpster area, he threw a flammable liquid on her and set her on fire. He then caught fire from being close to her.
"He was lying in wait by the dumpsters and somehow sprayed her with the flammable liquid and attempted to light her on fire which it did, but caught himself on fire also," said Foels.
Police also say they have responded to custody disputes at this couples home before.
When authorities arrived to the location, they found both people with full thickness burns to the front of their bodies, along with arms, hands and facial areas.
They are both recovering from serious, potentially life-threatening burns at ECMC Burn Unit.
Charges are currently pending as detectives are taking witness statements.
"We are looking at an attempted murder charge based on the severity of the burns," said Foels.