HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A West Harris County man is under arrest after allegedly setting his neighbors’ houses on fire while armed with a machete.
Phi Le Nguyen, 46, faces two arson charges and two aggravated assault charges in connection with the crime.
Surveillance video obtained exclusively by Eyewitness News shows him walking across the street to a neighbor’s house on Brighton Hollow Lane on Wednesday afternoon.
The homeowners tell ABC13 he poured gasoline on the side of the house and set it on fire, but it was easily put out. Scorch marks were visible on a portion of the brick facade and the lawn.
Moments later, Nguyen can be seen approaching another neighbor’s house. In the video, he’s smoking a cigarette and holding a can of gasoline in one hand and a machete in another.
He then pours the gasoline over the driveway before walking out of frame.
That’s when the homeowner tells Eyewitness News he doused her house in gasoline and lit a fire.
This fire appears to have only burnt a portion of the lawn.
Nguyen retreats to the foot of the driveway, where he can be seen surveying the damage before swinging the machete around.
Court documents accuse him of threatening the second homeowner with the machete as well as a responding Harris County sheriff’s deputy.
Nguyen is being held on a $150,000 bond.
