Police: Man Tried To 'Burn the Demon Out' of a 4-Year-Old Boy
Even among the standards of the most hardened prison inmates, there are few crimes considered more heinous than attacking innocent children.
But police say Josiah James McIntosh tried to do just that when he allegedly doused a 4-year-old with gasoline and threatened to light the child on fire.
According to police, all of this was in hopes of burning the “demon” out of him.
The 27-year-old man from Pennsylvania was taken into custody by law enforcement officers before he could do so, according to WPXI.
#ICYMI: A Johnstown man is facing a slew of charges for attempting to light a four-year-old child on fire and “burn the demon out of him,” police sayhttps://t.co/6JnxHN3Vi1 pic.twitter.com/ZLJJnHyiOE
— 6 News (@WJACTV) May 17, 2020
Responding officers arrived on the scene in Southmont Borough, Pennsylvania, and after searching the neighborhood, found McIntosh holding a lighter and smelling of gasoline, the West Hills Regional Police Department said, according to Fox News.
The officers were responding to a “domestic disturbance” call, police said, but when they arrived on the scene, they say they found something much more sinister going on.
“[McIntosh] splashed gasoline on the little boy and made a reference to setting him on fire,” Officer Christopher Kesslak wrote in the criminal complaint.
According to police, another witness reported McIntosh making his intentions crystal clear when he allegedly said: “If we can’t get out the demon, I’ll burn it out of him.”
That same witness said he attempted to get out of the house with the boy, which allegedly led McIntosh to hit the witness on the head with a brick.
Police said the witness had visible injuries on his head after the alleged attack.
Officers located the child and found him standing naked inside of the house with gasoline poured all over and around him, according to WJAC-TV.
In one final, cruel twist, one report says the boy is McIntosh’s son.
While the police did not say whether they are actually related, The Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown reported that the 4-year-old is indeed McIntosh’s child.
After being taken into custody, McIntosh was charged with a very long list of crimes.
The charges against him include aggravated assault of a person under 6 years old, simple assault, reckless endangerment, making terroristic threats, arson and child endangerment.
According to WJAC-TV, McIntosh was being kept at Cambria County Prison on a $75,000 bail. A preliminary hearing for his case is scheduled for May 27.
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