COCOA, Fla. – An apartment resident has been charged with attempted murder for deliberately setting fire to a mattress Thursday at the unit he shared with his girlfriend, Cocoa police said.
The Cocoa Fire Department put out the blaze at the Village Greene Apartments. Prior to the fire, police had been called there for a burglary complaint, police spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez told News 6 partner Florida Today.
Recommended Videos
Shortly before 10 a.m., a tenant at the apartments in the 1700 block of Dixon Boulevard called 911 about her boyfriend breaking into her apartment by ripping an air-conditioning unit off a window, Martinez said. The woman fled as the man, later identified as 47-year-old Melchizedek Seal, was breaking in, Martinez said.
Officers arrived 10 minutes later and took Seal into custody. Then, officers said they saw smoke and flames coming from the apartment. Tenants were evacuated. No injuries were reported.
Seal was charged with two counts of attempted murder because a pregnant woman lives in the unit above the apartment where he set the fire, Martinez said. He was also charged with arson
Nearly two years ago, more than two dozen Village Greene residents were displaced by an arson.