Man Sets Wife, Mother Afire, Then Surrenders

A man walked into the Downey police station Thursday night and told the desk sergeant that he had doused his wife and her mother with gasoline and set them afire in a La Habra apartment, authorities said.

La Habra police, who were called to the scene of the fire, confirmed that the two women were critically burned.

About 6 p.m., Guy Leslie Baker, 45, “told the desk sergeant that he wanted to turn himself in,” Sgt. Dean Milligan said. “The desk sergeant asked: ‘What for?’ The man said that he had lit his wife and her mother on fire. He then lifted his hands, which were severely burned.”

Paramedics treated Baker at the station and transported him to a hospital. La Habra police, who are heading the investigation, eventually will take him into custody, Milligan said.

Baker gave no reason for setting the two women on fire.