Police: Man attempted to burn down father's Spring Hill home

Police say a man poured gasoline all over a house In Spring Hill and tried to set it on fire.

Dan Mullen lives on Diana Street and remembers seeing the man, Montel Gordon, after a bizarre and potentially deadly incident at the end of his street.

"He was like hanging out on this corner smoking a cigarette, just looking around, looking around,” Mullen said. "He walked up in this person's alleyway and he grabbed a different kind of jacket and he put it on, so I told the officer who it was."

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That was Sept. 11, and police didn’t catch Gordon after they say he poured gasoline all around his father's house – on the sidewalk, on the front steps, down the side and on the back porch.

Police say surveillance video from a neighbor then allegedly shows Gordon using a lighter to ignite it.

Dave Ross lives four doors down.

“If he lit that house on fire, all the houses around here are within two or three feet, most of them are touching, so it could've lit up the whole block here,” Ross said.

Other neighbors called police that day and, thankfully, there was no fire. Gordon eluded authorities until Wednesday, when he was arrested on attempted arson charges and several counts of recklessly endangering another person.

Police say two people were inside the home Gordon tried to set on fire, and a woman who was nine months pregnant was home right next door.

"It could have hurt a lot of people, done a lot of damage,” Ross said.

Gordon is currently in the Allegheny County Jail with a bond of $50,000.

Cox Media Group