Virginia City Councilman, Lee Vogler, Is Set on Fire in Attack, Police Say

A man poured a flammable liquid on J. Lee Vogler, a councilman in Danville, Va., and set him on fire on Wednesday, the police said.

A Virginia city councilman who was doused with gasoline and set on fire in a brutal attack on Wednesday sustained burns on 50 to 60 percent of his body, according to the publisher of the local magazine where the councilman works.

The police said they had arrested Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, of Danville, Va., and had charged him with attempting to murder J. Lee Vogler, 38, a Danville city councilman who works as director of sales at Showcase Magazine.

Andrew Brooks, the publisher of the magazine, said in an interview on Thursday that the attack took place at the magazine’s office in Danville.

Mr. Vogler, a father of two, was scheduled to have surgery at a hospital in North Carolina, where he had been airlifted after the attack, Mr. Brooks said. Most of Mr. Vogler’s burns were on his torso, he said.

Mr. Brooks said that several bystanders had used their phones to record Mr. Vogler after he ran out of the magazine’s office covered in gasoline and was set on fire. A woman who was driving by told Mr. Vogler to drop to the ground and roll. She grabbed water bottles from her car and poured water on Mr. Vogler, Mr. Brooks said.

“She was a hero and likely saved his life while other people stood by filming it,” Mr. Brooks said.

Mr. Hayes, who was arrested shortly after the attack, has been charged with aggravated malicious wounding, which is punishable by life in prison, and attempted first-degree murder, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to Mark Hicks, the deputy Commonwealth’s attorney for Danville.

Mr. Hayes was being held without bond at the Danville City Jail, the police said. He made his first appearance in court on Thursday but did not enter a plea, according to his lawyer, Edward Lavado, who declined to comment on the case. Mr. Hayes is expected back in court on Sept. 30.

Witnesses told the police that Mr. Hayes poured a flammable liquid on Mr. Vogler during a confrontation at the magazine’s office. Both men then left the building, and Mr. Hayes set Mr. Vogler on fire outside, the police said.

Mr. Hayes drove off after the attack, and the police stopped him several blocks from the scene after witnesses described his vehicle, the police said.

A preliminary investigation found that the two men know each other and that “the attack stems from a personal matter not related to the victim’s position on Danville City Council or any other political affiliation,” the police said.

Mr. Vogler has been a councilman in Danville, a city of about 42,000 on the North Carolina border, about 50 miles northwest of Raleigh, since May 2012. He has also worked at Showcase Magazine for the last 12 or 13 years, Mr. Brooks said.

Mr. Brooks, who was not in the office when Mr. Vogler was attacked, recounted what another magazine employee who witnessed the assault had told him.

On Wednesday, Mr. Brooks said, Mr. Vogler and the other magazine employee heard a knock at the door of the office building. Mr. Vogler went to the answer the door and then came running through the building, covered in gasoline and screaming for his colleague to call 911, Mr. Brooks said. Mr. Hayes was holding a five-gallon bucket of gasoline, Mr. Brooks said.

One of Mr. Vogler’s co-workers told him to run, and Mr. Vogler ran out the door, where Mr. Hayes set him on fire, Mr. Brooks said. Mr. Vogler was awake and talking after the attack, and identified his assailant as Mr. Hayes, Mr. Brooks said.

“You do not have the right as a human being to get upset with someone enough to lash out and attempt to harm them in any way, much less this way,” Mr. Brooks said in a video that he posted online after the attack.

Mr. Brooks said Mr. Vogler was committed to his job as a city councilman and enjoys helping constituents.

“He loves that connection with the community,” he said. “He’s a super easygoing guy.”

News of the attack shocked people in Virginia political circles.

Mayor Alonzo Jones of Danville said the city had been “shaken by an unthinkable act of violence against Councilman Lee Vogler — our colleague, our friend, and someone we care about deeply.”

“Lee is a member of our City Council family,” Mr. Jones said in a statement. “And today, that family is hurting.”

Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia expressed horror at the assault.

“Our prayers go out to Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler who was violently attacked at his workplace earlier today,” he said on social media. “We pray for a swift recovery for Lee and peace to be on the entire Danville community.”

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