A woman in Cecil County, Maryland is charged with setting her home on fire while someone else was still inside and, as seen on video, the suspect just sat on a lawn chair while watching the flames destroy the residence. Gail J. Metwally, 47, was charged Thursday, according to the Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal.
In footage circulating online, a woman wearing a white tanktop can be seen arguing with a man on the porch of the home in question while she was holding some sort of stick or pole. It got physical.
https://developers.facebook.com/JAFx2.008/videos/6072576399435220/
“Oh, shit,” said the narrator recording the incident from across the street. “He said he goin’ beat the shit out of her. Oh my god.”
Then the man threw water at the woman.
The video then cut to the first woman arguing with another wearing a pink shirt.
Footage cut again to the narrator describing the beginning of the fire.
“Dude, she’s about to burn the fucking house down, dude,” he told a man he was with.
The situation escalated with the spread of more flames. As seen on the video, the woman in the white tanktop donned a hat and was sitting on a lawn chair with what seemed to be a book on her lap.
“I cannot actually believe my eyes,” the narrator said. “I cannot actually believe it. And she’s sitting there, just chilling, watching the house go up in flames.”
The fire continued to spread. Eventually, the woman in the pink shirt climbed out of the burning residence through a window. The narrator and the man he was with ran across the street to help, with the latter leading the way.
A picture from the Maryland State Fire Marshal showed the lawn chair and the burning home, but no suspect at the scene. They said that Metwally had walked away. Cecil County deputies arrested her after seeing her in the area, they said.
Authorities said Metwally lived in the home with three other people. One of them was still inside when she started the flames, they said.
The defendant is charged with first- and second-degree attempted murder, first-degree arson, first-degree assault, two counts of malicious burning in the first degree, two counts of malicious destruction of property, and two counts of reckless endangerment.
Metwally’s attorney of record did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
[Screengrab via Whippin in Da Kitchin; mugshot via Maryland State Fire Marshal]