ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A man in St. Pete is facing attempted murder and arson charges after his arrest on Thursday.
Police say just before 9 p.m. on Thursday Bertram Mann, 43, set a trailer on fire with a Molotov cocktail and then attacked a man with a hatchet.
According to an arrest report, two witnesses saw Mann place a Molotov cocktail at the door of the trailer they were in.
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One of the witnesses kicked the cocktail out of the trailer, and police say it burst into flames when it hit the ground. The other witness put it out with a fire extinguisher, according to police.
When they exited the trailer, police say the witnesses saw that another nearby trailer was fully engulfed in flames.
When the witnesses asked Mann what he was doing, he attacked one of them with a hatchet, the report says. The victim was hit repeatedly in the back and chest and required immediate medical attention, according to police.
Mann ran away from the scene and was caught by police more than a mile away. He is charged with first-degree attempted murder and first-degree arson.
