Last Updated on April 3, 2024, 2:21 PM | Published: April 3, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma City man in his 80s chose to set fire to himself Monday during an eviction by Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Deputies.
Anthony Goulding, 82, and his wife, not named by the Sheriff’s office, were in the process of being evicted by two deputies executing a court order for eviction from their home near W. Hefner Road and N. Council Road.
Since both were seniors, deputies had been helping for weeks to make arrangements for an Uber to pick them up Monday and take them to an extended-stay hotel to give them time to recover and find another place.
What happened
Body cam footage from the two deputies shows that the man went back to a bedroom, retrieved a red can of gasoline, and began pouring it along a line in front of the bedroom door.
The deputies advanced and attempted to stop him as he pulled out a lighter and lit it. One deputy shouted to stop and attempted to stop him from setting fire to the carpet where the gasoline had been poured. (feature photo)
The man persists in trying to set fire to the carpet as the deputy advances and tries to grab the arm holding the lighter.
Then, Gould retreats, falls to the floor, holds the lighter up to the mouth of the can, and strikes it creating a combustion.
The deputy ran out of the room and radioed that they had a fire.
As the deputy tried to run back into the room to pull the man out, the fire spread, filling the doorway and reaching almost to the ceiling.
As fire began to engulf the bedroom the man stayed there, did not try to stand or run out, and was consumed by fire as the two deputies ran back to the living room to move the woman outside.
The deputies then went to work to get the woman outside as smoke began to gather near the ceiling.
The woman is listed as being in good condition. The man died in the fire.
Why?
The Sheriff’s office did not speculate on why Goulding prepared for the event by storing a can of gasoline in a bedroom and obtaining a lighter.
But, having known for weeks that they would be evicted on a certain date gives the appearance that the man was planning to set fire to himself on the day of eviction, or perhaps create a fire barrier to the bedroom to stop deputies from evicting him.
Golding’s body has been sent to the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s office for an autopsy. Autopsies typically take almost two months for the ME’s office to complete.
Evictions bring risks
Evictions are often tense when people are still living in a residence that the courts have ordered them out of. But, sometimes the situation becomes deadly for those being evicted as in this case, or for deputies.
Two Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Deputies were shot and one of them killed during an eviction in August 2022.
Wednesday, Sheriff Johnson addressed those situations where deputies in the Sheriff’s Office Judicial Division are sent to execute a court order and not just evictions.
“I think oftentimes that the Judicial Division gets kind of the label of ‘it’s safe because we’re serving papers,’ There’s nothing safe about Judicial. You’re dealing with people’s emotions each and every day, dealing with VPOs [Victim Protective Orders], and child custody,” said Johnson.
“Like we’re seeing here today with this eviction, you’re taking someone’s home away, that’s their last stand,” Johnson said in a press conference. “I’m extremely proud of our deputies because we really go above and beyond to try to help our citizens along the way [with] resources like you saw here where they had things in place.”
Free Press will continue to follow this story for further information.
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
