A Tallahassee woman may have gone on an arson spree Wednesday and Thursday, starting at a Taco Bell where a woman was set on fire, cops say.
On Wednesday, Mia Williams, a 32-year-old who was born male but identifies as female, walked into a Taco Bell, doused a woman with gasoline and then set her on fire, Tallahassee police said.
Williams ran away and the victim was taken to a hospital by helicopter with serious injuries. As of Friday, the victim was still being treated, police said.
Tallahassee police did not disclose the victim’s name due to Marsy’s Law.
At around 5 a.m. Thursday, reports came in that a car was set on fire. Twenty minutes later, two other fires on the same street were also reported. The first involved two cars and the second was a church that was fully engulfed in flames, police said.
A short time later, two more fires were reported, all of in relatively close proximity. While the five fires were not within walking distance, police suspect that the culprit could be on a bicycle.
At around 6:40 a.m., a Tallahassee fire truck spotted Williams on a bike and began following her. When an officer arrived, he tried to stop Williams by using a Taser on her twice, but both shots weren’t effective, police said.
As Williams continued to ride away, the officer decided to drive his patrol car over a curb and pin the front tire of Williams’ bike to fence because “[she] was a serious risk to public safety.”
She wasn’t done trying to get away. The officer said that Williams jumped on top of the car roof, pulled out a pair of orange scissors and then raised them up “as if to potentially stab me.”
Police eventually arrested Williams and found a cigarette lighter in her pocket.
Williams was only charged in relation to setting the woman ablaze at the Taco Bell, not with the fires that followed.
Tallahassee police say the car and church fires are still being investigated by fire officials.
Williams was charged with premeditated homicide, resisting an officer with violence and aggravated assault on an officer.
This story was originally published October 25, 2019 1:30 PM.
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