A man was arrested after allegedly beating his elderly parents, lighting their Massachusetts home on fire and leaving them in the residence despite their pleas for help, according to authorities.
Darius Hazard, 44, was charged with murder and arson after his parents — 76-year-old Venture and 83-year-old Donald — were found dead in the living room of their burned North Adams home on Monday, according to the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office.
Hazard confessed to physically assaulting his parents inside their home, pouring gasoline on the floor and setting the house on fire before driving away and abandoning them in the burning structure, investigators said.
Both of the suspect’s parents were found dead in the home by firefighters who responded to the blaze at about 7 a.m. on Monday morning. The medical examiner ruled their cause of death as smoke inhalation.
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Police later took Hazard into custody at a Walmart parking lot. Officers frisked him, and he said he had a knife in his car. He said he had attempted to stab himself, and he had injuries to his thigh and chest.
Prosecutors said Hazard told the officers he became “really, really angry” while he and his father were helping his mother, who had difficulty walking and suffered from advanced arthritis and scoliosis, after she fell around 3 a.m., court documents show, according to WNYT.
“I guess I snapped,” he said.
Hazard was yelling at them and hitting them repeatedly, the outlet reported. His father told him to stop, which he eventually did. He then shoved both parents to the floor and struck them with various objects, as well as his fist. He even threw a fan at his father.
He poured gasoline on the floor upstairs and in the living room, set a match and drove away.
His parents were injured, but alive when he left. He told police they were yelling “come back” and “help me, help us, we are in trouble” as he left the home.
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Hazard said he knew he should not have lost his cool like this. He said he had lost his temper in the past and yelled or broken things, but this was the first time he assaulted his parents.
He has pleaded not guilty and remains held without bail at Berkshire County House of Correction, News 10 reported.
