INDIANAPOLIS — An Alabama man was sentenced to five years in federal prison after setting his dad's home in Indiana on fire and killing the family's dog and cat.
Tommy Lee Harrison, 34, of Birmingham, Alabama, pleaded guilty to crossing state lines to commit arson.
According to court documents, Harrison left Birmingham on Oct. 28, 2021, to travel to Connersville, Indiana, to set fire to the home where Harrison’s dad lived with his wife, children and the family’s pets.
Officials said Harrison made a stop at a Walmart in Elizabethtown, Kentucky — during the almost eight-hour drive — to buy a can of black spray paint. He ended up arriving at his dad's house around 1:40 a.m. Oct. 29, 2021.
According to the U.S. DOJ, video surveillance from the area showed Harrison park next door to his dad's house, exit the vehicle, place a container on the ground and drive away.
Officials said Harrison came back roughly 20 minutes later, and drove around the home for 20 minutes until he backed his car into the yard.
Over the next hour, the DOJ said Harrison used gasoline to light the inside and outside of his family’s home on fire. This destroyed the family's primary bedroom, made the children's bedrooms "unlivable" and killed two of the family’s pets — a cat named Millie and a dog named Roxie.
Officials said Harrison also used the spray paint he purchased to deface the property with a racial slur.
After all this, Harrison left and went back home to Alabama, where he was later arrested.
“This defendant’s actions had a devastating impact not only on the immediate victims, but on the community of Connersville as well. His actions uprooted a family, destroyed their peace of mind, and shook the small town in which his father was a prominent community leader,” Zachary Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said.
The FBI and Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office investigated this case.