(All photos above are courtesy of Heather Scott.)

Ernest Roman was in his camper, parked in front of a vacant lot in 1600 block of Glyndon, when about 9:30 pm last night he heard something. He opened the door. Next thing he knew, there was a man, who came out of alley, threw or rolled a 5-gallon can of gasoline under his camper shell.

Man, who was short in dark clothing, ran north on Glyndon. Roman had no description other than that man was short.

The can exploded and camper shell caught on fire. Roman jumped out of the camper and watched outside as his camper shell went up in flames.

Fire truck arrived about 15 minutes after explosion and put out fire. Rick Selan, a neighbor, said the police and fire department were both alerted. Firemen took the can that was used for explosion as evidence. Roman told a neighbor that someone from the LAPD “terrorist” department talked to him later that night.

Roman said the good thing was that the truck part of his truck with the cab-over camper shell was still in tack. He said he lost everything in the fire inside the shell. “Everything was in the camper shell,” he said. Roman was fortunate he said that the gas tank of the truck itself did not explode. He was not insured.

Roman, when asked if someone had a grudge against him, said he knew of no one who had a grudge against him. “Other campers, and maybe cars, in area have had windows broken and tires slashed lately,” he said “but I don’t know why anyone would do this to me. I don’t know of anyone who has a grudge against me.”

One neighbor took a picture of Roman’s camper earlier in the week with a broken window and a sign in the window.

His bicycle which was chained and locked next to the shell was not hurt with the exception that the front tire was melted.

Heather Scott who lived nearby hosed down her house because the fire was so intense.

Picture shows the alley on the right where the man with the can came from.

(Photo courtesy of Heather Scott.)
Picture shows Roman’s camper window that was broken some time before and the sign he put up.

Bike was chained next to body of truck but heat melted the front tire.