A Texas man is facing capital murder and arson charges after allegedly setting his house on fire Thursday night, killing his brother and gravely injuring his 82-year-old mother, according to El Paso police.
Phillip Daniel Mills, 40, of El Paso, is facing capital murder and arson charges after he allegedly set his house on fire Thursday night and the blaze killed his brother and gravely injured his 82-year-old mother
Phillip Daniel Mills, 40, of El Paso, allegedly admitted to police that he set the fire at his Fandango Place residence to 'purge the home from evil' because his brother and mother didn't follow the Bible.
According to an arrest affidavit, Mills doused his living room sofa in gasoline siphoned from a weed eater before igniting it with a lit cloth, KTSM reports.
Once the sofa caught on fire, he walked outside the house and waited to see if his mother or brother would go outside but they didn't, the affidavit says.
'The defendant advised that he waited outside the residence with large rocks in his hands in the event that both his brother and mother had made it out the burning residence', a detective wrote in the report.
The El Paso fire department said that firefighters arrived at the house around 11.30pm to see Mills's mother Florence Annette Mills, rushing outside with severe burns.
Fire department rescuers pulled Paul Aaron Mills, 54, from the flames and transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Florence Annette Mills was also brought to a local hospital and last listed in critical condition.
Mills had an outburst prior to the fire, in which he purposely broke a television in the living room and threatened to burn the house down, the affidavit says.
It adds, 'The defendant states that he left the residence and
