A man was found dead inside a burning van in D.C.'s Brightwood Park neighborhood, authorities said.
D.C. Fire and Emergency Services responded to reports of a fire in an alley in the 500 block of Nicholson Street NW at about 4:30 p.m. Monday, according to a Metropolitan Police Department statement.
The intense flames melted the side of a building.
After extinguishing the fire, firefighters found a man inside the van. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Neighbors said the van pulled into the alley after 3 p.m. One neighbor said they spoke to a man who poured gas around the scene.
“D.C. fire was able to quickly extinguish the fire,” Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Kevin Kentish said. “After the fire was extinguished, they located the body of what we believe to be an adult male in the rear passenger compartment of the vehicle.”
The vehicle was reported stolen in Maryland Monday, police said.
“The decedent had significant thermal injuries, so it was kind of hard for to identify the body as well as identify anything attached to the body,” Kentish said.
While police don’t have a suspect or motive, they don’t believe it was related to the neighborhood.
“We don’t believe this to be a random act of destruction of property or random act of violence,” Kentish said. “We believe this to be kind of targeted. We believe that the people went out there specifically to burn this vehicle. I wouldn’t say that there’s a concern for neighbors in that area, because based on what we have, we don’t believe it to be just a random act.”
Authorities are working to determine the circumstances of the death and the cause of the car fire.
