Black Visitor to Florida Beaten, Set Afire; 3 White Men Sought

The FBI joined the hunt Monday for three white men who allegedly abducted a black man, took him to a remote area, robbed him and then doused him with gasoline and set him ablaze.

The president of Tampa’s NAACP chapter called the attack a “lynching by fire.” Investigators said the attackers used racial epithets, but it was not immediately clear whether they were racially motivated.

Christopher Wilson, 31, suffered second- and third-degree burns over about 40% of his body during the assault New Year’s morning. He was in serious but stable condition Monday at Tampa General Hospital awaiting skin grafts set for today.

Federal agents entered the investigation under a recent federal law banning carjacking, since Wilson was abducted at gunpoint in his car, FBI agent Pete Wubbenhorst said. If agents determine that the attack was racially motivated, they also would pursue a civil rights case, he said.

Wilson’s girlfriend, Joan Benoit, said he told her the men repeatedly used a racial epithet.

Wilson did not mention racial remarks when detectives initially interviewed him, Sgt. Al Luis said.

Wilson, who works in New York for a New York Stock Exchange firm, was visiting Benoit and was attacked Friday when he went to buy a newspaper near her home in suburban Valrico.