A 64-year-old man from Daytona Beach, Florida, was arrested after allegedly setting his own house on fire and then running around the neighborhood with a weapon after screaming about vampires.
Cops first visited the Cassin Avenue home of Melvin Weaver and his unnamed wife of eight years on the afternoon of Sunday, December 23, after the woman had called 911 in an attempt to enforce the Baker Act on her husband, who had been rambling in an odd fashion.
“The Baker Act is a Florida law that enables families and loved ones to provide emergency mental health services and temporary detention for people who are impaired because of their mental illness, and who are unable to determine their needs for treatment,” according to University of Florida Health.
However, when officers from the Dayton Beach Police Department arrived at the house, despite Weaver threatening to “let his dog out” on them, the man was said to be “in sound mind” and they would not take him into custody, reported WKMG News 6.
Several hours later, at around 7:42 p.m., cops were again called to the area by the Florida man’s neighbors after he was seen knocking on the front doors of some of the other houses on the block with a large knife in his hand and saying that his house was on fire with someone inside of it, according to ABC 27.
.@DBCops1 say Melvin Weaver intentionally set his home on fire with he and his wife inside. But escaped the fire unharmed pic.twitter.com/9JrRcf0Rzn
— Mike Springer WFTV (@mspringerwftv) December 24, 2018
When police arrived at the scene, they reportedly took the knife away from Weaver and handcuffed him. They then spoke to his wife, who explained what had transpired.
She told the authorities that a few hours after the cops’ initial visit, her husband ran out of the house and screamed, “The vampires are going to defend themselves.” When she approached him, she said that he grabbed a wooden cane and hit her forearm. He then started to break windows inside of the house.
Not feeling safe in her own home, she went to pack an overnight bag. When she came out of her room, she yelled “You’re crazy” at Weaver, which angered him even more. She said that he then tore insulation from the ceiling, placed it on the stove, and turned the stove on. As the kitchen quickly went up in flames, he grabbed the large knife and ran out of the house again.
The woman and the dog were able to leave the burning house safely.
About 75 percent of the inside of the home was torched and the building has been deemed unlivable.
Weaver was taken to the Volusia County Jail on felony arson of an occupied structure and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon charges.
WKMG News 6 said that the wife refused medical attention and declined to press charges. She told authorities that the only medication she knows that Weaver takes are pain pills for cancer, and she was not sure if he had taken any that day.
The news station found Weaver’s jail records that show he had been previously arrested for violation injunctions against him for domestic violence.
On Wednesday, December 26, WFTV News said that a judge had signed an order for Weaver to receive a mental health evaluation. Records indicate that this is his second evaluation in the last 18 years.