NEED TO KNOW
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Chilling footage shared by Fox 4 News showed a person appearing to set a Texas family’s home ablaze as they slept inside
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The family, including six adults and two children, survived the fire
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Midlothian police are investigating the case as an arson offense, per Fox 4 News
A family in Texas is having to take turns to sleep after chilling footage showed a person appearing to set their home on fire.
On Tuesday, Aug. 12, at around 1 a.m. local time, the majority of the Wilson family — six adults and two children — was asleep inside their Midlothian property when a mysterious figure set their house ablaze, per CBS News.
Terrifying footage shared by Fox 4 News appeared to show a hooded man pouring gasoline around the front door, windows and garage, before setting it on fire and running away.
Fox 4 News reported that Darryl Wilson’s 21-year-old daughter, Malia Wilson, was home from college on summer break at the time, and happened to still be awake when the alleged attack occurred.
Malia, whose bedroom is directly above the garage, spotted the motion-activated security lights turn on, per the outlet. After going downstairs, she saw the flames outside the living room window, before waking her dad and calling 911.
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Darryl, 52, told CBS News, “She came running in there, and she said, ‘The house is on fire.’ I looked at her. I said, ‘Okay, I’m dreaming.’ I laid back down. She grabbed me — ‘No. No. The house is on fire.’ “
His wife, Wahsheida Wilson, told the outlet of the mystery figure who appeared to commit the crime, “I was shocked. I’m like, this can’t be real. Who would do this? Like, we keep to ourselves.”
Darryl initially grabbed two cups of water, before getting pots in a bid to put out the flames, CBS News stated. Wahsheida then checked the home’s security footage, which was when she saw the alleged perpetrator.
Darryl’s daughter Mylah Rivera, 25, reposted grabs and footage of the incident on a Facebook group, urging the public to share the post so they could find the person responsible.
“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” Rivera told CBS News, adding, “I have a 1-year-old daughter. .., What if my sister wasn’t up and witnessed this and it would have got worse, you know?”
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Thankfully, nobody was injured in the blaze. But Wahsheida told the outlet that the family now takes turn to sleep.
“We’re on rotation, just staying up at night. Looking out the windows, looking on the camera. We’re on rotation,” she said, per CBS News. “Someone sleeps, someone gets up to be on watch.”
Darryl told Fox 4 of the fire, “I just feel like, ‘Oh my gosh, what would’ve happened if it got in the house?’ In my mind, I’m like, ‘What made you do this?’ It was the middle of the night. Everyone had turned their lights off. Everyone was sleeping. The kids were sleeping.”
Insisting the family is now planning to move, he told the outlet, “My kids don’t want to stay. My wife doesn’t want to stay. You know, they’re traumatized. It’s a hurting thing for someone to come to my home and do that. And I feel helpless as a father.”
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The Midlothian Police Department is investigating the case as an arson offense, per Fox 4 News. The family has said they don’t recognize the man seen in the security footage.
The Midlothian Police Department didn’t immediately respond after being contacted by PEOPLE for additional information. PEOPLE has also reached out to Rivera.
Read the original article on People
