ROCK HILL, S.C. — A 36-year-old man was charged with arson and attempted murder after lighting a pile of clothes on fire at a Rock Hill home after an argument, police said.
Rock Hill police were called to the fire at about 12:40 a.m. Tuesday on East Black Street. The fire department got there and put the fire out.
Police and fire investigators spoke with one of the occupants, and they said Johntavis Antwan Miller ignited the pile of clothing because he was angry. There were three people inside the home when the fire started.
Officers caught up with Miller and arrested him without incident.
A woman who lives in the duplex said she burned her arm while escaping.
The wound was treated, but she is hurting over the loss of her home.
Resident Damaria White said the arson suspect said he was going to set the home on fire.
“Now, I ain’t got nowhere to go,” White said.
She said the argument started with the neighbors in this duplex.
They live on the back side where most of the damage had happened.
White said Miller visited the tenants in the back and got upset with them.
“He told them he was going to set it on fire, and that’s what he did,” she said.
The fire happened while she slept.
White said the smell of smoke woke her and saved her life.
“I just woke up, coughed and when I looked, all I seen was fire,” she said.
The flames burned her arm, and she made it outside to watch the flames spread.
She was upset because it was over an argument that didn’t involve her.
“I’m more mad than anything because you didn’t even think about me,” she said. “You didn’t think about your neighbors.”
White said she lives at the home with her 12-year-old son and is glad he wasn’t there.
Miller was charged with second-degree arson and three counts of attempted murder.
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