Suspect who set RV fire near Fort Worth wasn’t trying to kill anyone, girlfriend says
Sophia Lowrey heard steps on the roof of the recreational vehicle she was inside as it sat parked in a Tarrant County driveway Monday evening.
Seconds later, she saw liquid falling down at the RV’s door.
“I walked out of the RV to see what was going on because I also could hear yelling,” Lowrey told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I could hear someone say, ‘Get down’.”
Once outside, Lowrey said, she saw her boyfriend, William Sheid, jump down from the roof of the RV and then light it on fire, which was the beginning of a standoff that law enforcement said lasted more than three hours Monday night.
Sheid held authorities at bay until he was taken into custody after deputies fired tear gas into a detached garage where he had barricaded himself, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.
Initially, Sheid, 37, who lived in the recreational vehicle, faced charges of attempted murder, resisting arrest and assault on a police officer, but investigators are not pursing the attempted murder charge, according to jail records..
Lowrey contacted the Star-Telegram to give details on the incident. She says Sheid was not trying to kill her.
“He never threatened or hit me,” Lowrey said, pointing out the two had been dating since November. “We have had arguments off-and-on, and we were standing outside of the RV when we had another one Monday.”
Lowrey said the argument was over a trivial matter, but they never raised their voices. Sheid’s mother lives in a home near the recreational vehicle.
“I had had enough of arguing so I walked back into the RV,” Lowrey said. “I then hear voices. It’s his mother and aunt.”
That’s when Lowrey stepped out of the RV and Sheid started the fire, she said. She said she doesn’t know what caused Sheid to be upset.
Deputies responded to the family dispute about 7 p.m. Monday in the 3500 block of Lucy Trimble Road in south Tarrant County.
“His mother called the cops, saying he had set a fire,” Lowrey said. “One cop showed up, and back in the day he (Sheid) carried a weapon. That information was passed along to the officer and he called for backup.”
When he saw more officers arriving, Sheid ran to a nearby garage and barricaded himself, according to the sheriff’s office and Lowrey. His girlfriend said Sheid did not have a weapon.
Sheid’s family or friends were not allowed near him as a Tarrant County Tactical Team arrived, she said, and the standoff lasted more than three hours.
The standoff ended when authorities fired tear gas and bean bag rounds into the garage, Lowrey said.
Authorities said a deputy was injured as they took Sheid into custody. Details of the injury were not released, but the sheriff’s office said the deputy was treated and released from a local hospital.
““I’m sure if they would have allowed me to talk to him when it first started, it wouldn’t have lasted as long,” Lowrey said.
Sheid remained in the Tarrant County Jail on Thursday in lieu of $11,000 bond.
