BURNEY, Calif. (AP) – An attacker sprayed an attendant at a California gas station with a flammable liquid and set him on fire, killing the man and launching an ongoing manhunt, authorities said Thursday.
A $10,000 reward has been posted for help finding the assailant seen on security video Wednesday evening entering the business near Burney, a quiet logging community at the northern end of the state.
Friends and co-workers of 54-year-old victim David Wicks gathered Thursday at the gas station and described him as someone who always had a smile on his face and never had a bad thing to say.
“I can’t imagine somebody, knowing Dave, why would anybody do this?” tearful co-worker Kris Cantrell told The Record Searchlight newspaper.
Surveillance video shows the attacker wearing yellow rain gear, black hoodie and gloves, said Shasta County sheriff’s Lt. Anthony Bertain.
Investigators found a bicycle outside the gas station, he said.
Arriving paramedics found Wicks with severe burns at the Rocky Ledge Shell Station. An air ambulance flew him to a hospital, where he died.
Secret Witness of Shasta County, a nonprofit organization, posted the reward seeking tips that lead to an arrest and conviction.
Devinder Sahota, a co-owner of the gas station, said Wicks’ wife, Sonia, managed the business.
“We’ve never been in a situation like this before,” Sahota told the newspaper. “Our primary goal is to console Sonia.”