Philip Daniel Mills, 40, has been charged with capital murder and arson, according to the El Paso Police Department.
A Texas man has been arrested and charged with capital murder after he admitted to setting a house fire that killed his brother and injured his mother because they did not follow the Bible, officials said. The man reportedly waited outside the burning residence with rocks in his hand, in case anyone made it out alive, the El Paso Police Department said.
Philip Daniel Mills, 40, was charged with capital murder and arson. He is being held at the El Paso County County Detention Facility on a $2.5 million bond, El Paso Police Department Public Information Officer, Sgt. Enrique Carrillo told Inside Edition Digital.
On Thursday, firefighters from the El Paso Fire Department arrived at 6001 Fandango in El Paso, Texas, around 11: 30 p.m. and found an 82-year-old woman with burn injuries walking out of the residence. A man with severe burns on him was pulled from the burning building by firefighters. He was transported to a local hospital where he died, the El Paso Police Department reported.
The deceased male was identified as, 54-year-old Paul Aaron Mills, the suspect's brother. The other person was Mills' mother, Florence Annette Mills, officials said.
A police detective's affidavit said the mother was taken to a hospital in Lubbock and listed in critical condition, KTSM News 9 reported.
Police said around the time of the fire, an officer on patrol saw the suspect running in the area. The suspect told the officer that his house was on fire and didn’t know what to do, KFOX 25 News reported.
Authorities said Mills told the officer he was the one who set the fire when his Miranda Rights were being recorded, according to court documents, KFOX reported.
At police headquarters, he acknowledged he had located a weed eater and poured gasoline from it on the sofa in the living room, the news outlet reported.
He also told the police that earlier that day, he broke the television in the living room because he needed to “purge” the home from “evil,” and after his mother became upset he told her, “this house will be burned down by the end of the day!” the documents stated.
The affidavit said when officers told Mills his brother had died and his mother was injured in the fire, he “laughed.”
He reportedly told investigators that he was “shocked that both his mother and brother did not perish and called it a ‘failed attempt,” according to the affidavit, KSTM reported.
There is no hearing date set for Mills most recent charges, according to the El Paso County District Clerk's office.
Related Stories
.
